Argon Streams provides comprehensive coverage for HEVC Validation

The suite includes a coverage tool that computes the proportion of the specification validated by any set of bit streams.

HEVC/H.265 is a new video coding standard that will halve the bandwidth requirement for video and it is expected to become the industry standard video codec which enables migration to 4K video. It is an evolution of H.264, with many new features and the flexibility to support all kinds of encode architectures.

However this additional complexity comes at a cost; it is much harder to verify that the HEVC decoder will be fully compatible with all possible HEVC encoded bit streams, both now and in the future. In order to provide high coverage, with provable confidence, Argon Design used a novel compiler based technique to create Argon Streams.

By writing a compiler for the HEVC specification, that directly understands the pseudo-code and equations contained in the HEVC specification, Argon Design has created a mathematical model of the entire coding process. This mathematical model is used to generate a comprehensive set of HEVC encoded bit streams and a coverage tool that details exactly which sections of the specification are covered by any set, or subset, of bit streams. The resulting coverage report is cross-linked to an interactive version of the HEVC specification that highlights exactly which sections and equations are being verified.

Alan Scott, CEO of Argon Design stated, “We have been using Argon Streams and the Argon Coverage Tool to verify the HEVC reference decoder developed by the standards body. This process has already resulted in over 40 issues with the HEVC specification and reference decoder implementation being reported back to the standards body.”

Mark De Souza, Executive VP of ChipStart LLC, the industry’s leading supplier of semiconductor IP, stated that, “Semiconductor Verification is always challenging. The number of variables in HEVC makes the verification of HEVC devices a huge challenge. Argon Streams is designed by taking a formal approach that has resulted in a comprehensive verification suite. We expect Argon Streams to become the default verification platform for HEVC”.