Chapter 7 Design Implementation (II)
RTL To software developers To microprocessor designers RTL may mean register transfer language To microprocessor designers RTL may be conceived as a pseudo-code description of an instruction set architecture, describing the data flow between different elements of the processor To FPGA designers RTL stands for register transfer level, a relatively low level of abstraction allowing the description of a specific digital circuit
RTL Example if rising_edge (CLK) then PROD1 = A*C; PROD2 = B*D; PROD3 = A*D; PROD4 = B*C; Xr = PROD1-PROD2; Xi = PROD3 + PROD4; end if;
Synthesis Logical Synthesis The process of translating an HDL language design description into an RTL design description The output of the synthesis process is a netlist file, which is used as an input to the place-and-route tools A common format for the output netlist file is electronic design interchange format (EDIF)
Synthesis/Implementation
Possible Synthesis Phase
Specify the Design Constraints Determine Design clock frequency Input signal delays Required output timing to signal destination Input signal edge rates Drive strength of input signals Signal load within the FPGA Operational conditions for the FPGA
Constraints Needed by Synthesis Tools
Place and Route
Q & A