DESIGN INSTRUMENTATION CIRCUITRY

Techniques and systems for analysis, diagnosis and debugging fabricated hardware designs at a Hardware Description Language (HDL) level are described. In particular, the techniques and systems relate to design instrumentation circuitry that facilitates the analysis, diagnosis and debugging of the hardware designs. A HDL design instrumentation circuitry embedded within an electronic system comprises one or more probe circuits to allow storage of signal values of the electronic system upon predetermined events, one or more breakpoint registers to specify the predetermined events, and one or more trigger processing units to control the storage of signal values upon the detection of the predetermined events by the breaking registers. The present design instrumentation circuitry permits monitoring the electronic system at speed, facilitating the analysis diagnosis and debugging by giving detailed and accurate information about the operation of the electronic system.