IEEE Std 1687-2014
IEEE Standard for Access and Control of Instrumentation Embedded within a Semiconductor Device
1.3 Background
There exists the widespread use of embedded instrumentation [such as built-in self-test (BIST) engines,
complex I/O characterization and calibration, embedded timing instrumentation, etc.), each of which is
accessed and managed by a variety of external controllers using a variety of mechanisms and protocols.
Therefore, a need exists for standardization of these methods in order to facilitate an efficient and orderly
process for the preparation of tests that access and control these embedded instruments. Given the
widespread use of IEEE 1149.1 TAP and boundary-scan architecture as a gateway to many internal test,
debug, and programming features, it is logical to build upon the foundation of the boundary scan standards
(IEEE Std 1149.1-1990 [B2], IEEE Std 1149.1-2001, IEEE Std 1149.1-2013 , IEEE Std 1149.4™-2010
[B3], IEEE Std 1149.6™-2010 [B4], IEEE Std 1532™-2002 [B5], and IEEE Std 1500™-2005) to support
TAP-based access to internal device test features in a standardized manner.
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IEEE Std 1149.1-2013
extended previous versions of that standard to include procedural access to reconfigurable test data
registers (TDRs) accessible via the TAP. IEEE Std 1687 describes an instrument-centric approach to this
problem that allows retargeting from instrument ports through a wide variety of on-chip network
configurations (of which IEEE Std 1500 is one example) to a device interface (of which the TAP is one
example). Like IEEE Std 1500, IEEE Std 1687 specifies how to build a conformant on-chip network while
not forcing a specific device interface to the network. IEEE Std 1687 has taken a more descriptive than
prescriptive approach for specifying the on-chip network, thus allowing many existing architectures to
conform.
This standardization effort is intended to address the access to on-chip instrumentation, not the instruments
themselves. The elements of standardized access include the following:
a) The hardware architecture for connecting instruments to the TAP via a serial access network and/or
to other interfaces via a serial or parallel access network,
b) A hardware description language (HDL) that documents this access network between the
instruments and device interfaces, and
c) A procedure description language that documents the operation of the instruments.
Items that have been specifically included in the scope of the standard include the application of
instrument-level procedures retargeted through various levels of hierarchy, the retargeting of intellectual
property (IP)-level patterns to device-level TAP patterns, and the documentation of the connection of
instruments to other (non-TAP) interfaces.
Items that have been excluded from the scope of the standard are the detailed off-chip protocols for
instrument communication over non-TAP interfaces, synchronized interoperation between instruments, and
the assurance of reusability of chip-level patterns at board or system levels.
The goal of IEEE Std 1687 is to facilitate the use and reuse of internal instrumentation by providing a
standard yet flexible network architecture for accessing the instruments and standard descriptions of both
the network and the operation of the instruments. Given the considerable number of devices containing
internal instruments that are already available, this standard has made every reasonable attempt to provide
support for the description of commonly used legacy implementations. The standard also supports forward-
looking architectures that are scalable and uniform in their approach to accessing embedded instruments in
a hierarchical manner.
1.4 Organization
This standard is organized as follows:
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The numbers in brackets correspond to those of the bibliography in Annex G.
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