Designing with VHDL

• Writing efficient hardware designs
• Performing high-level HDL simulations
• Employing structural, register transfer level (RTL), and behavioral coding styles
• Targeting Xilinx devices specifically and FPGA devices in general
• Utilizing best coding practices

Who Should Attend?

Prerequisites

• Basic digital design knowledge

Skills gained

• Implement the VHDL portion of coding for synthesis
• Identify the differences between behavioral and structural coding styles
• Distinguish coding for synthesis versus coding for simulation
• Use scalar and composite data types to represent information
• Use concurrent and sequential control structure to regulate information flow
• Implement common VHDL constructs (Finite State Machines [FSMs], RAM/ROM data structures)
• Simulate a basic VHDL design
• Write a VHDL testbench and identify simulation-only constructs
• Identify and implement coding best practices
• Optimize VHDL code to target specific silicon resources within the Xilinx FPGA
• Create and manage designs within the Vivado Design Suite environment

Course Outline

• Introduction to VHDL – Discusses the history of the VHDL language and provides an overview of the different features of VHDL.{Lecture}
• VHDL Design Units – Provides an overview of typical VHDL code, covering design units such as libraries, packages, entities, architectures, and configuration.{Lecture, Lab}
• VHDL Objects, Keywords, Identifiers – Discusses the data objects that are available in the VHDL language as well as keywords and identifiers. {Lecture}
• Scalar Data Types – Covers both intrinsic and commonly used data types. {Lecture}
• Composite Data Types – Covers composite data types (arrays and records). {Lecture}
• VHDL Operators – Reviews all VHDL operator types. {Lecture}
• Concurrency in VHDL – Describes concurrent statements and how signals help in achieving concurrency. {Lecture}
• Concurrent Assignments – Covers both conditional and unconditional assignments. {Lecture, Lab}
• Processes and Variables – Introduces sequential programming techniques for a concurrent language. Variables are also discussed. {Lecture, Lab}
• Conditional Statements in VHDL: if/else, case – Describes conditional statements such as if/else and case statements. {Lecture, Lab}
• Sequential Looping Statements – Introduces the concept of looping in both the simulation and synthesis environments. {Lecture, Lab}
• Delays in VHDL: Wait Statements – Covers the wait statement and how it controls the execution of the process statement.{Lecture}
• Introduction to the VHDL Testbench – Introduces the concept of the VHDL testbench to verify the functionality of a design. {Lecture, Lab}
• VHDL Assert Statements – Describes the concept of VHDL assertions. {Lecture}
• VHDL Attributes – Describes attributes, both predefined and user defined. {Lecture}
• VHDL Subprograms – Covers the use of subprograms in verification and RTL code to model functional blocks. {Lecture}
• VHDL Functions – Describes functions, which are integral to reusable and maintainable code.{Lecture, Lab}
• VHDL Procedures – Describes procedures, common constructs that are also important for reusing and maintaining code. {Lecture}
• VHDL Libraries and Packages – Demonstrates how libraries and packages are declared and used. {Lecture, Lab}
• Interacting with the Simulation – Describes how to interact with a simulation via text I/O.{Lecture}
• Finite State Machine Overview – Provides an overview of finite state machines, one of the more commonly used circuits.{Lecture}
• Mealy Finite State Machine – Describes how to implement a Mealy state machine in which the output is dependent on both the current state and the inputs.{Lecture}
• Moore Finite State Machine – Demonstrates how to implement a Moore state machine in which the output is dependent on the current state only. {Lecture, Lab}
• FSM Coding Guidelines – Describes the guidelines and recommendations for using one or more procedural blocks when coding a finite state machine. {Lecture}
• Vivado Simulator and Race Conditions in VHDL – Introduces the Vivado simulator simulation environment. Race conditions are also discussed. {Lecture}
• Writing a Good Testbench – Explores how time-agnostic, self-checking testbenches can be written and applied. {Lecture, Lab}
• Targeting Xilinx FPGAs – Focuses on Xilinx-specific implementation and chip-level optimization. {Lecture, Lab}

Special Comments

Please download the respective PDF of your course: *

• Designing_with_VHDL_lang-vhdl_2020-1_ilt_H.pdf