Testing of digital circuitry using Xilinx chipscope logic analyzer

The latest technology, for FPGA testing provided by Xilinx and Altera for the new families of very large circuits is based on Logic Analysers implemented inside the tested chip. The ChipScope from Xilintx and the Signal Tap Logic Analyser from Altera allow to capture and display the signal in all internal nodes of the circuit usinzg the JTAG interface only. This paper presents the authors' experience in the use of ChipScope technology, for verification and debugging of a hardware simulator of the standard positioning system in aircraft radionavigation. The siystem was implemented in. the Spartan 3 (from Xilinx) based FPGA development board.