Introduction to
FPGA
AVI SINGH
Prerequisites
Digital Circuit Design - Logic Gates, FlipFlops, Counters, Mux-
Demux
Familiarity with a procedural programming language like C
Bottom Up Design
Logic Gates
Circuits using Logic Gates
A little more Complication
Flip Flops
Counters
Microprocessors
Made up of several smaller blocks, as discussed previously.
Can contain hundreds of millions of gates.
For Example: Intel i7 ~ 731m gates!
Our Dilemma
For better performing computer, we need processors with a large
number of gates.
But, how do we design with so many gates?
Do we ‘draw’ these circuits? Too tedious!
HDLs to the Rescue
Hardware Description Languages (HDLs)
Allow you to ‘write’ down hardware.
How? We will see.
Some of the popular HDLs: Verilog (mainly in the US), VHDL
Example: A Tri-State Buffer
module tri_buf
(a,b,enable);
input a; output b;
input enable;
wire b;
assign b = (enable) ? a :
1'bz;
endmodule
How HDLs help you get the
circuit
Where do FPGAs come in the
picture?
FPGA stands for Field Programmable Gate Arrays
You can think of it as drawing board made out of silicon: you can
implement any digital circuit on it.
An HDL code after synthesis can be uploaded to the FPGA, and
we can test our design in the real world, before going to
production with it.
How does it beat a
microcontroller?
Parallel processing.
Digital Circuits are way faster than algorithms running on a CPU.
User configurable input/output pins: You can have dozens of
external interrupts (or internal interrupts), have as many UART or
SPI ports as you want.
You can implement a processor on an FPGA, add external
memory and few other peripherals, and you have a brand new
micro-controller of your own, which can even run software.
Reconfigurable Logic Blocks
Coding in Verilog
Consists of various building blocks called Modules
Communication between a module and its
environment is achieved by using Ports
Ports are of three types: input, output, inout
Module
A “Black Box” in Verilog with inputs, outputs and internal logic
working.
So, a module can be used to implement a counter.
A module is defined as module <specific type>(<port list>);
4029 Counter
One Input port for CLK
Four binary output ports
At every rising edge of clock, increment output by 1
Declaring Module
Way 1:
module 4029(clk, a, b, c, d, reset, enable);
//Assuming two more input pins, reset and
//enable with their corresponding functioning
Way 2:
module 4029(clk, out, reset, enable);
What is the difference in the two?
Declaring Ports
Way 1:
input clk;
input reset;
input enable;
output a,b,c,d;
Way 2:
input clk;
input reset;
input enable;
output [3:0] out;
Types of Ports
We need drivers for this module in order to interact with other
modules
Driver is a way of defining something which can drive a load
Two types of drivers:
◦ Can store a value (for example, flip-flop)
◦ Cannot store a value, but connects two points (for example, a wire)
In Verilog, a driver which can store a value is called reg and the one
which cannot is called wire
Drivers for 4029 modules
Ports defined as wires?
◦ clk
◦ reset
◦ enable
We do not need to stores the values of these ports in our logical
block.
Ports defined as reg?
◦ a,b,c,d
◦ out
We need to store them so that we could modify their values when
required.
Defining drivers for 4029
Way 1:
wire clk;
wire reset;
wire enable;
reg a,b.c,d;
Way 2:
wire clk;
wire reset;
wire enable;
reg [3:0] out;
Complete definition of module
module 4029( clk, out, reset, enable);
input wire clk;
input wire reset;
input wire enable;
output reg [3:0] out;
endmodule
Wire Vs Reg
reg can store a value, wire simply connects
Most of the times, inputs are wire and outputs are reg
Output of flip flop – wire or reg ?
Output of XOR gate – wire or reg ?
Output of multiplexer – wire or reg ?
What now?
We have seen how to define the outer structure of the modules
we will use.
Time to define the internal structure and functioning?
Operational and Conditional
Statements
All the arithmetic as well as logical operators in Verilog are
similar to C, except ++ and –- which are not available in
Verilog.
Conditional statements are also similar to C with following
modifications:
◦ { is replaced by begin.
◦ } is replaced by end.
Combinatorial Circuits
Combinational circuits are acyclic interconnections of gates.
◦ And, Or, Not, Xor, Nand, Nor ……
◦ Multiplexers, Decoders, Encoders ….
◦ Adders, Multipliers ….
OUTPUT DEPENDS ON THE PRESENT INPUT ONLY.
How are these gates, muxs etc. abstracted in Verilog?
◦ Gates, Add, Multiply … : by simple operators like in C
◦ Multiplexers … : by control statements like if-else, case, etc.
Gate level implementation of above high level operators done by Verilog
synthesizer.
Control Statements
if-else, case :
◦ Exactly like C.
◦ Hardware view: implemented using multiplexers
for loops, repeat:
◦ – for-loops are synthesizable only if length of iteration is determined
at compile time & finite.
◦ repeat -similar to for loop.
◦ Hardware view: All loops are unrolled during synthesis.
Control Statement Syntax
Assign statements
Continuous assignment statement.
Used for modeling only combinational logic.
module BusInverter( input wire A, output wire B );
assign B = ~A;
endmodule
Basically B is shorted to ~A.
RHS should have variable of wire type.
Example-1 bit Full Adder
GATE LEVEL DESCRIPTION BEHAVIORAL DESCRIPTION
module full_adder( module full_adder(
input wire a, input wire a,
input wire b, input wire b,
input wire cin, input wire cin,
output wire sum,
output wire sum,
output wire carry );
output wire carry );
assign sum = a & ~b & ~cin | ~a & b & ~cin |~a & ~b &
cin | a & b & cin; assign { carry, sum } = a+b+cin;
assign carry = a & b | a & cin | b & cin;
endmodule endmodule
Sequential Circuits
Circuits containing state elements are called sequential circuits
OUTPUT DEPENDS ON THE PRESENT INPUT AS WELL AS ON ITS
PRESENT STATE.
The simplest synchronous state element: Edge triggered D Flip Flop
How do you implement such an element in Verilog?
always @ block
It is an abstraction provided in Verilog to mainly implement sequential circuits.
Also used for combinational circuits.
always @(#sensitivity list#)
begin
………. //No assign statements inside always@
end
Execution of always block depends on the sensitivity list.
Sensitivity List
Run continuously. (mostly used in Test Benches)
always
Run when any variable changes its value.
always @(*) //for combinational ckts
Run when the variables `a' or `b' change their value.
always @(a, b)
Run when a positive edge is detected on CLK.
always @(posedge CLK) //for sequential ckt
initial block
An initial block is executed only once when simulation starts
This is useful in writing test benches
If we have multiple initial blocks, then all of them are executed
at the beginning of simulation
Counter Example
module Counter(
input wire CLK,
output reg [3:0] OUT );
initial
OUT <= 0;
always @(posedge CLK)
OUT <= OUT + 1;
endmodule
Blocking and Non-blocking
statement
Non-blocking assignments happen in parallel.
always @ ( #sensitivity list # ) begin
B <= A ;
C <= B ; // (A,B) = (1,2) -> (B,C) = (1,2)
end
Blocking assignments happen sequentially.
always @ ( #sensitivity list # ) begin
B=A;
C=B; // (A,B) = (1,2) -> (B,C) = (1,1)
end
Points to note
Use always@(*) block with blocking assignments for
combinational circuits.
Use always@(posedge clk) block with non- blocking
assignments for sequential combinational circuits.
Do not mix blocking and non-blocking statements.
Complete 4029 module
module 4029( clk, out, reset, enable);
input wire clk;
input wire reset;
input wire enable;
output reg [3:0] out;
always @(posedge clk)
begin
if (reset == 0 && enable == 0)
begin
out <= out +1;
end
end
// continued to next page
Complete 4029 module
always @(reset or enable)
begin
if (reset == 1’b1)
begin
out <= 0;
end
end
endmodule
Xilinx Virtex V
Hobbyist Friendly Boards
Papilio Pro
Mojo v3/v2
How to get started?
First of all download Xilinx ISE WebPack, with a free licence.
Create a simple project, and learn to write test benches (or directly create
them on the ISE), and start using the ISim tool.
Do the ‘Verilog in a Day’ exercises found here
http://www.asic-world.com/
Check if Mojo boards are available in club.
Go here: http://embeddedmicro.com/tutorials/mojo/
See your code in action!
