Facultad de Ingeniería

Departamento de Electrónica y Ciencias de la Computación

Carrera de Ingeniería Electrónica

Arquitectura de Computadores

VHDL Intro
Agosto 2013

Tek
VHDL Intro
System Representation (Gajski's Y Diagram)
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How to implement a digital system

• No two applications are identical and every one needs certain amount
of customisation.

• Basic methods for customisation:

– “General-purpose hardware” with custom software
• General-Purpose Processor: e.g., performance-oriented
processor (e.g., Xeon), cost-oriented processor (e.g., PIC
micro-controller)
• Special purpose processor: with architecture to perform a
specific set of functions: e.g., DSP processor (to do
multiplication-addition), network processor (to do buffering
and routing), “graphic engine” (to do 3D rendering)
– Custom hardware
– Custom software on a custom processor (known as hardware-software co-
design)

• Trade-off between Programmability, Coverage, Cost, Performance, and

Power consumption

• A complex application contains many different tasks and use more than
one customisation methods
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Efficiency versus Flexibility
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Cost Comparison of Three Viable Technologies
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Summary of Technology
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Development Flow
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Traditional Programming Language

• Modelled after a sequential process

– Operations performed in a sequential order

– Help human's thinking process to develop an algorithm step by step
– Resemble the operation of a basic computer model
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Hardware Description Language

• Characteristics of digital hardware

– Connections of parts
– Concurrent operations
– Concept of propagation delay and timing

• Characteristics cannot be captured by traditional Pls

• Require new languages: HDL

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Use of an HDL program

• Formal documentation

• Input to a simulator

• Input to a synthesiser
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Modern HDL

• Capture characteristics of a digital circuit:

– entity
– connectivity
– concurrency
– timing

• Cover description
– at Gate level and RT level
– in structural view and behavioural view
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Two HDLs used today

• VHDL and Verilog

• Syntax and “appearance” of the two languages are very

different

• Capabilities and scopes are quite similar

• Both are industrial standards and are supported by most

EDA vendors:

– VHDL: IEEE-1076-1987 IEEE-1076-2008

– Verilog: IEEE-1364-1995 IEEE-1364-2005

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VHDL

• VHDL: VHSIC (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit) HDL

– Initially sponsored by DoD as a hardware
documentation standard in early 80s
– Transferred to IEEE and ratified it as IEEE standard
1076 in 1987 (known as VHDL-87)
•

• Revised continuously:
– 1076-1993. Major revision.
– 1076-2000. Add mutual exclusion semantics to the
shared variable feature in VHDL.
– 1076-2002. Syntax, vocabulary and semantics for
describing electronic systems.
– 1076-2008. Address design verification methodologies
that have developed in industry.
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VHDL

• Current Extensions:
– 1076.1-2007. IEEE Standard VHDL Analog and Mixed-Signal
Extensions. (VHDL-AMS).
– 1076.4-2000. IEEE Standard VITAL (VHDL Initiative Towards
ASIC Libraries) ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit)
Modeling Specification.
– 1076.6-2004. IEEE Standard for VHDL Register Transfer Level
(RTL) Synthesis.

• Not longer endorsed by IEEE

– 1076.2 VHDL Mathematical Packages
– 1076.3 Synthesis Packages
– 1076.5 Standard VHDL Language Utility Library
– 1164 Multivalue Logic System for VHDL Model
Interoperability
– 1029 VHDL Waveform and Vector Exchange to Support
Design and Test Verification (WAVES)
Further Reading
• CHU, Pong P. RTL Hardware Design Using VHDL – Coding for
Efficiency, Portability, and Scalability. IEEE – John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 2006. Chapter 1.