VLSI Design
Volume 2008 (2008), Article ID 165709, 9 pages
doi:10.1155/2008/165709
Research Article

Antirandom Testing: A Distance-Based Approach

Shen Hui Wu,1 Sridhar Jandhyala,1 Yashwant K. Malaiya,2 and Anura P. Jayasumana1

1Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
2Computer Science Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

Received 19 March 2007; Accepted 16 January 2008

Academic Editor: Jacob Abraham

Copyright © 2008 Shen Hui Wu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Random testing requires each test to be selected randomly regardless of the tests previously applied. This paper introduces the concept of antirandom testing where each test applied is chosen such that its total distance from all previous tests is maximum. This spans the test vector space to the maximum extent possible for a given number of vectors. An algorithm for generating antirandom tests is presented. Compared with traditional pseudorandom testing, antirandom testing is found to be very effective when a high-fault coverage needs to be achieved with a limited number of test vectors. The superiority of the new approach is even more significant for testing bridging faults.