1. 1 VHDL VHSIC Hardware Description Language y.baleghi@nit.ac.ir In The Name of GOD

2. 2 References  VHDL Analysis and Modeling of Digital Systems, Zainalabedin Navabi.  VHDL Programming By Examples, Douglas L. Perry  The VHDL Cookbook, Peter J. Ashenden  VHDL Reference Guide, Xilinx Inc.

3. 3 Digital System Design Process Design Idea Flow Chart Pseudo Code Behavioral Design Bus & Register Structure Data Path Design Gate Wirelist, Netlist Logic Design Transistor List, Layout Physical Design Chip Or Board Manufacturing

4. 4 Why VHDL ?  Modeling in Different Levels  Simulation  Design  Testing and Verification  Documentation

5. 5 Hardware Description  Behavioral : The Most Abstract. Describes The Function.  Dataflow: Represents the flow of control and movement of Data.  Structural : The Lowest and most detailed level of description and the simplest to Synthesize

6. 6 Hardware Simulation  Simulation: Imitation of the operation or features of one system using its Model for analyzing it under a given set of conditions and/or stimuli.  The Model can be described by HDL.  In VHDL models can be described in any level simultaneously.

7. 7 VHDL Simulation The Remote Controller of a Car

8. 8 VHDL Co-Simulation

9. 9  System C, A set of C++ Classes to model a Hardware. Co-simulation with other C++ simulations.  VHDL AMS (Analog & Mixed Signal). Co- simulation with analog devices.

10. 10 Hardware Simulation Methods  Oblivious Simulation: Using the new values of inputs, the output of all circuit components will be reevaluated until they are stabilized.  Event-Driven Simulation: When an input is changed, only those nodes that are affected are reevaluated.

11. 11 Hardware Synthesis  A design aid that automatically transforms a design description from one form to another is called a synthesis tool.

12. 12 Introduction  VHDL is used to:  document circuits  simulate circuits  synthesize design descriptions  Synthesis is the realization of design descriptions into circuits. In other words, it is the process by which logic circuits are created from design descriptions

13. 13 VHDL Design Descriptions  VHDL design descriptions consist of an ENTITY and ARCHITECTURE pair  The ENTITY describes the design I/O  The ARCHITECTURE describes the content of the design

14. 14 The Entity  A “ BLACK BOX ”  The ENTITY describes the periphery of the black box (the design I/O) BLACK_BOX rst d[7:0] clk q[7:0] co

15. 15 PORTS  The Entity ( “ BLACK BOX ” ) has PORTS  PORTS are points of communication PORTS are often associated with the device pins or I/O ’ s of a component  PORTS are a special class of SIGNAL  PORTS have an associated SIGNAL name, MODE, and TYPE

16. 16 PORT modes A port ’ s MODE is the direction data is transferred:  INData that goes into the entity but not out  OUTData that goes out of the entity but not in (and is not used internally)  INOUTData that is bi-directional (goes into and out of the entity)  BUFFERData that goes out of the entity and is also fed-back internally within the entity

17. 17 TYPES  VHDL is a strongly typed language (you cannot assign a signal of one type to the signal of another type)  BIT  a signal of type bit that can only take values of '0' or '1'  BIT_VECTOR  a grouping of bits (each bit can take value of '0' or '1') e.g., SIGNALa: BIT_VECTOR (0 TO 3); -- e.g... ascending range SIGNALb: BIT_VECTOR (3 DOWNTO 0); -- e.g... descending range a <= "0111"; b <= "0101"; This means that:a(0) = '0' b(0) = '1' a(1) = '1' b(1) = '0' a(2) = '1' b(2) = '1' a(3) = '1' b(3) = '0'

18. 18  Commercial Tools can recognize other signal types, for example:  x01z a signal bit that can take values ‘ x ’, ‘ 0 ’, ‘ 1 ’, or ‘ z ’ this type is useful for three-state outputs and bi-directional signals  x01z_VECTOR a grouping of x01z ’ s assignment is similar to BIT_VECTOR TYPES (contd.)

19. 19  INTEGER useful as index holders for loops, constants, or generics  BOOLEAN can take values ‘ TRUE ’ or ‘ FALSE ’  ENUMERATED has user-defined set of possible values example: TYPE states IS (start, slow, fast, stop); TYPE qit IS ( ‘ 0 ’, ‘ 1 ’, ‘ z ’, ‘ x ’ ); TYPES (contd.)

20. 20 The Entity declaration  VHDL description of the black box: ENTITY black_box IS PORT ( clk, rst:INBIT; d:IN BIT_VECTOR(7 DOWNTO 0); q:OUTBIT_VECTOR (7 DOWNTO 0); co:OUT BIT); END black_box; MODE TYPE BLACK_BOX rst d[7:0] clk q[7:0] co

21. 21 The Entity: An Example  Write an entity declaration for the following: Port D is a 12-bit bus, input only Port OE and CLK are each input bits Port AD is a 12-bit, bi-directional bus Port A is a 12-bit bus, output only Port INT is a three-state output Port AS is an output only my_design d[11:0] oe clk ad[11:0] a[11:0] int as

22. 22 The Entity: Example solution ENTITY my_design IS PORT ( d:IN BIT_VECTOR (11 DOWNTO 0); oe, clk:IN BIT; ad:INOUT x01z_VECTOR(11 DOWNTO 0); a:OUT BIT_VECTOR (11 DOWNTO 0); int:OUT x01z; as:OUT BIT); END my_design; my_design d[11:0] oe clk ad[11:0] a[11:0] int as

23. 23 Exercise #1: Entity Declaration  Write an entity declaration for the following: Port A is a 4-bit bus, input only Port EN, LD and CLK are input only Port W is an output only Port X is a 12-bit bi-directional bus Port Y is an output that is also used internally Port Z is a three-state output your_design en a[3:0] ld clk w x[11:0] y z

24. 24 Exercise #1: Solution ENTITY your_design IS PORT ( clk, ld, en:IN BIT; a:IN BIT_VECTOR (3 DOWNTO 0); w:OUT BIT; x:INOUT x01z_VECTOR(11 DOWNTO 0); y:BUFFER BIT; z:OUT x01z); END your_design; your_design en a[3:0] ld clk w x[11:0] y z

25. 25 The Architecture  Architectures describe what is in the black box (i.e., the structure or behavior of entities)  Descriptions can be either a combination of  Structural descriptions Instantiations (placements of logic gates - much like in a schematic - and their connections) of building blocks referred to as components  Behavioral descriptions Abstract (or “ high-level ” ) descriptions, e.g., IF a = b THEN state <= state5; Boolean equations, e.g., x <= (a OR b) AND c;

26. 26 Entity/Architecture pairs  Since an architecture describes the behavior of an entity, they are paired together to form a design, e.g., ENTITY logic IS PORT ( a,b,c: IN BIT; f:OUT BIT); END logic; USE WORK.gatespkg.ALL; ARCHITECTURE archlogic OF logic IS SIGNAL d: BIT; BEGIN d <= a AND b; g1: nor2 PORT MAP (c, d, f); END archlogic; a b c d f LOGIC Behavioral Structural g1

27. 27 Example Library Element (nor2)  Packages found in WARP\lib\common  nor2 in WARP\lib\common\gates.vhd --gates.vhd Schematic support for synthesis. PACKAGE gatespkg IS... COMPONENT NOR2 PORT ( a,b: IN BIT; qn: OUT BIT ); END COMPONENT;...

28. 28 Example Library Element (cont.)... ENTITY NOR2 IS PORT ( a,b: IN BIT; qn: OUT BIT ); END NOR2; ARCHITECTURE archNOR2 OF NOR2 IS BEGIN qn <= (a NOR b); END archNOR2;...

29. 29 Why use behavioral VHDL?  increased productivity, e.g., a 4-bit comparator a VHDL behavioral description: aeqb <= '1' WHEN a = b ELSE ‘ 0 ’ ; a VHDL structural description: x1: xnor2 PORT MAP (a(0), b(0), xnr(0)); x2: xnor2 PORT MAP (a(1), b(1), xnr(1)); x3: xnor2 PORT MAP (a(2), b(2), xnr(2)); x4: xnor2 PORT MAP (a(3), b(3), xnr(3)); eq: and4 PORT MAP (xnr(0), xnr(1), xnr(2), xnr(3), aeqb);  increased portability, i.e., designs are not dependent on a library of vendor or device-specific components  more readable design flow

30. 30 Standard VHDL operators  Logical - defined for type BIT  AND, NAND  OR, NOR  XOR, XNOR  NOT  Relational - defined for types BIT, BIT_VECTOR, INTEGER  = (equal to)  /=(not equal to)  <(less than)  <=(less than or equal to)  >(greater than)  >=(greater than or equal to)

31. 31 Standard VHDL operators (contd.)  Unary Arithmetic - defined for type INTEGER  -(arithmetic negate)  Arithmetic - defined for type INTEGER  +(addition)  -(subtraction)  Concatenation -defined for types STRING, BIT, BIT_VECTOR  &

32. 32 Overloaded VHDL operators  Operators are defined to operate on data objects of specific types  For example, the ‘ + ’ operator is defined to operate on integers signal a,b,c : integer range 0 to 10; c <= a + b;  Operators can be “ overloaded ” to operate on data objects of other types  e.g., the ‘ + ’ operator may be overloaded to operate on bit_vectors and integers signal b,c : bit_vector(3 downto 0) ; c <= b + 2;  Commercial vendors provide a libraries to overload many operators

33. 33 VHDL semantics  There are two types of statements (The following is more easily understood in terms of simulation)  Sequential Statements within a process are sequential statements and evaluate sequentially in terms of simulation  Concurrent Statements outside of a process evaluate concurrently Processes are evaluated concurrently (i.e., more than one process can be “ active ” at any given time, and all active processes are evaluated concurrently)

34. 34 Concurrent statements  Concurrent statements include:  boolean equations  conditional assignments (i.e., when...else...)  instantiations  Examples of concurrent statements: -- Two dashes indicates a comment in VHDL -- Examples of boolean equations x <= (a AND( NOT sel1)) OR (b AND sel1); g <= NOT (y AND sel2); -- Examples of conditional assignments y <= d WHEN (sel1 = '1') ELSE c; h <= '0' WHEN (x = '1' AND sel2 = '0') ELSE ‘ 1 ’ ; -- Examples of instantiation inst: nand2 PORT MAP (h, g, f);

35. 35 Sequential statements: The Process  A process is a VHDL construct used for grouping sequential statements  Statements within a process are evaluated sequentially in terms of simulation  Processes can be either active or inactive (awake or asleep)  A Process typically has a SENSITIVITY LIST  When a signal in the sensitivity list changes value, the process becomes active  e.g., a process with a clock signal in its sensitivity list becomes active on changes of the clock signal

36. 36 The Process (contd.)  All signal assignments occur at the END PROCESS statement in terms of simulation time  The Process then becomes inactive

37. 37 Sequential statements: An Example  Example of sequential statements within a Process: mux: PROCESS (a, b, s) BEGIN IF s = '0' THEN x <= a; ELSE x <= b; END IF; END PROCESS mux;  Note: logic within a process can be registered or combinatorial  Note: the order of the signals in the sensitivity list is unimportant x(3 DOWNTO 0) s a(3 DOWNTO 0) b(3 DOWNTO 0)

38. 38 The Process Sensitivity List  A Process is invoked when one or more of the signals within the sensitivity list change, e.g., ARCHITECTURE archlist OF list IS BEGIN nand: PROCESS (a,b) BEGIN c <= NOT (a AND b); END PROCESS nand; END archlist;  Note: the process ‘ nand ’ is sensitive to signals ‘ a ’ and ‘ b ’ i.e., whenever signal ‘ a ’ or ‘ b ’ changes value, the statements inside of the process will be evaluated

39. 39 Signal Assignment in Processes ENTITY mux2ltch IS PORT ( a, b: IN BIT_VECTOR(3 DOWNTO 0); s, en: IN BIT; x: BUFFER BIT_VECTOR(3 DOWNTO 0)); END mux2ltch; x(3 DOWNTO 0) s a(3 DOWNTO 0) b(3 DOWNTO 0) en

40. 40 Signal Assignment in Processes: Incorrect solution ARCHITECTURE archmux2ltch OF mux2ltch IS SIGNAL c: BIT_VECTOR (3 DOWNTO 0); BEGIN mux: PROCESS (s, en) BEGIN IF s = '0' THEN c <= a; ELSE c <= b; END IF; x <= (x AND (NOT en)) OR (c AND en); END PROCESS mux; END archmux2ltch;  Solution using a process with sequential statements:  Note: when en, '1' = x is assigned the previous value of c x s a b en c Desired Circuit

41. 41 END PROCESS: A correct solution ARCHITECTURE archmux2ltch OF mux2ltch IS SIGNAL c: BIT_VECTOR (3 DOWNTO 0); BEGIN mux: PROCESS (s) BEGIN IF s = '0' THEN c <= a; ELSE c <= b; END IF; END PROCESS mux; x <= (x AND (NOT en)) OR (c AND en); END archmux2ltch;  Solution using a process with sequential statements and a concurrent signal assignment:  Note: when en, '1' = x is assigned the updated value of c

42. 42 Exercise #2: Architecture Declaration of a Comparator  The entity declaration is as follows: ENTITY compare IS PORT ( a, b: IN BIT_VECTOR (0 TO 3); aeqb: OUT BIT); END compare;  Write an architecture that causes aeqb to be asserted when a is equal to b  Multiple solutions exist aeqb a(0 TO 3) b(0 TO 3)

43. 43 Three possible solutions  Concurrent statement solution using a conditional assignment:  Concurrent statement solution using Boolean equations: ARCHITECTURE archcompare OF compare IS BEGIN aeqb <= '1' WHEN a = b ELSE ‘0 ‘ ; END archcompare; ARCHITECTURE archcompare OF compare IS BEGIN aeqb <= NOT( (a(0) XOR b(0)) OR (a(1) XOR b(1)) OR (a(2) XOR b(2)) OR (a(3) XOR b(3))); END archcompare;

44. 44 Three possible solutions (contd.)  Solution using a process with sequential statements: ARCHITECTURE archcompare OF compare IS BEGIN comp: PROCESS (a, b) BEGIN IF a = b THEN aeqb <= '1'; ELSE aeqb <= '0'; END IF; END PROCESS comp; END archcompare; aeqb a(0 TO 3) b(0 TO 3)