FPGA Prototyping by VHDL Examples: Xilinx MicroBlaze MCS SoC

A hands-on introduction to FPGA prototyping and SoC design This Second Edition of the popular book follows the same “learning-by-doing” approach to teach the fundamentals and practices of VHDL synthesis and FPGA prototyping. It uses a coherent series of examples to demonstrate the process to develop sophisticated digital circuits and IP (intellectual property) cores, integrate them into an SoC (system on a chip) framework, realize the system on an FPGA prototyping board, and verify the hardware and software operation. The examples start with simple gate-level circuits, progress gradually through the RT (register transfer) level modules, and lead to a functional embedded system with custom I/O peripherals and hardware accelerators. Although it is an introductory text, the examples are developed in a rigorous manner, and the derivations follow strict design guidelines and coding practices used for large, complex digital systems. The new edition is completely updated. It presents the hardware design in the SoC context and introduces the hardware-software co-design concept. Instead of treating examples as isolated entities, the book integrates them into a single coherent SoC platform that allows readers to explore both hardware and software “programmability” and develop complex and interesting embedded system projects. The revised edition: Adds four general-purpose IP cores, which are multi-channel PWM (pulse width modulation) controller, I2C controller, SPI controller, and XADC (Xilinx analog-to-digital converter) controller. Introduces a music synthesizer constructed with a DDFS (direct digital frequency synthesis) module and an ADSR (attack-decay-sustain-release) envelop generator. Expands the original video controller into a complete stream-based video subsystem that incorporates a video synchronization circuit, a test pattern generator, an OSD (on-screen display) controller, a sprite generator, and a frame buffer. Introduces basic concepts of software-hardware co-design with Xilinx MicroBlaze MCS soft-core processor. Provides an overview of bus interconnect and interface circuit. Introduces basic embedded system software development. Suggests additional modules and peripherals for interesting and challenging projects. The FPGA Prototyping by VHDL Examples, Second Edition makes a natural companion text for introductory and advanced digital design courses and embedded system course. It also serves as an ideal self-teaching guide for practicing engineers who wish to learn more about this emerging area of interest.

Table of Contents:
Preface ix Acknowledgments xv PART I BASIC  DIGITAL  CIRCUITS DEVELOPMENT 1 Gate-level Combinational Circuit 1 1.1 Overview of VHDL 1 1.2 General description 2 1.3 Structural description 6 1.4 Top-level  signal mapping 8 1.5 Testbench 9 1.6 Bibliographic notes 11 1.7 Suggested experiments 11 2 Overview of FPGA and EDA  software 13 2.1 FPGA 13 2.2 Overview of the Digilent Nexys  4 DDR    board 15 2.3 Development flow 16 2.4 Xilinx  Vivado  Design  Suite 18 2.5 Bibliographic notes 18 2.6 Suggested experiments 18 3 RT-level combinational circuit 23 3.1 RT-level components 23 3.2 Routing circuit with concurrent assignment   statements 29 3.3 Modeling with a  process 34 3.4 Routing circuit with if and case    statements 36 3.5 Constants and generics 41 3.6 Replicated structure 44 3.7 Design examples 46 3.8 Bibliographic notes 58 3.9 Suggested experiments 58 4 Regular Sequential Circuit 61 4.1 Introduction 61 4.2 HDL code of the FF and  register 64 4.3 Simple design examples 67 4.4 Testbench for sequential circuits 72 4.5 Case study 75 4.6 Timing  and clocking 87 4.7 Bibliographic notes 90 4.8 Suggested experiments 90 5 FSM  93 5.1 Introduction 93 5.2 FSM code development 97 5.3 Design examples 100 5.4 Bibliographic notes 110 5.5 Suggested experiments 110 6 FSMD 113 6.1 Introduction 113 6.2 Code development of an FSMD 119 6.3 Design examples 125 6.4 Bibliographic notes 140 6.5 Suggested experiments 141 7 RAM and Buffer of FPGA 145 7.1 Embedded memory of FPGA device 145 7.2 General description for RAM-like   component  147 7.3 FIFO buffer  153 7.4 HDL templates for memory  inference  158 7.5 Overview of memory controller  164 7.6 Bibliographic notes  166 7.7 Suggested experiments  166 PART II EMBEDDED SOC I: VANILLA  FPRO SYSTEM 8 Overview of Embedded SoC Systems 171 8.1 Embedded  SoC 171 8.2 Development Flow of Embedded   SoC 173 8.3 FPro  SoC Platform 176 8.4 Adaption  on  Digilent  Nexys  4  DDR board 180 8.5 Portability 182 8.6 Organization 184 8.7 Bibliographic notes 184 9 Bare Metal System Software Development 187 9.1 Bare metal system development overview 187 9.2 Memory-mapped  I/O 189 9.3 Direct  I/O  Register Access 191 9.4 Robust  I/O  Register Access 193 9.5 Techniques for low-level I/O  operations 197 9.6 Device Drivers 199 9.7 FPro  Utility  Routines  and  Directory Structure 204 9.8 Test program 208 9.9 Bibliographic notes 211 9.10 Suggested experiments 211 10 FPro Bus Protocol and MMIO Slot Specification 213 10.1 FPro Bus 213 10.2 Interface with bus 216 10.3 MMIO I/O core 222 10.4 Timer core development 226 10.5 MMIO controller 229 10.6 MCS I/O bus and bridge 234 10.7 Vanilla FPRO System Construction 238 10.8 Bibliographic notes 240 10.9 Suggested experiments 240 11 UART Core 243 11.1 Introduction 243 11.2 UART Construction 245 11.3 UART core  development 253 11.4 UART driver 256 11.5   Additional  Project Ideas 262 11.6 Bibliographic notes 265 11.7 Suggested experiments 266 PART III EMBEDDED SOC II: BASIC I/O CORES 12 Xilinx XADC Core 271 12.1 Overview of XADC 271 12.2 XADC core development 273 12.3 XADC core device driver 278 12.4 Sampler FPro System 281 12.5 Additional Project Ideas 291 12.6 Bibliographic notes 292 12.7 Suggested experiments 292 13 Pulse Width Modulation Core 295 13.1 Introduction 295 13.2 PWM Design 296 13.3 PWM core development 299 13.4 PWM  driver 302 13.5 Testing 303 13.6 Project ideas 304 13.7 Suggested experiments 305 14 Debouncing  core and LED-Mux  Core 307 14.1 Debouncing Core 307 14.2 LED-Mux   Core 313 14.3 Project  Ideas 319 14.4 Suggested Experiments 320 15 SPI Core 323 15.1 Overview 323 15.3 SPI  Core Development  333 15.4 SPI Driver  336 15.5 Test  338 15.6 Project Ideas  341 15.7 Bibliographic notes  342 15.8 Suggested Experiments  342 16 I2C Core 347 16.1 Overview 347 16.2 I2C Controller 350 16.3 I2C Core Development 360 16.4 I2C  Driver 361 16.5 Test 365 16.6 Project  Idea 366 16.7 Bibliographic notes 367 16.8 Suggested experiments 367 17 PS2 Core 371 17.1 Introduction 371 17.2 PS2 Controller 373 17.3 PS2 core development 383 17.4 PS2 driver 384 17.5 Test 393 17.6 Bibliographic notes 394 17.7 Suggested experiments 394 18 Sound I: DDFS  Core 397 18.1 Introduction 397 18.2 Design and implementation 397 18.3 Fixed-point arithmetic 400 18.4 DDFS Construction 402 18.5 DAC (digital-to-analog converter) 404 18.6 DDFS core development 407 18.7 DDFS driver 409 18.8 Testing 412 18.9 Bibliographic notes 413 18.10 Suggested experiments 413 19 Sound II: ADSR Core 415 19.1 Introduction 415 19.2 ADSR envelope generator 416 19.3 ADSR core development 421 19.4 ADRS driver 423 19.5 Testing 429 19.6 Project  Idea 430 19.7 Bibliographic notes 431 19.8 Suggested experiments 431 PART IV EMBEDDED SOC III: VIDEO  CORES 20 Introduction to Video System 435 20.1 Introduction to a video  display 435 20.2 Stream interface 437 20.3 VGA Synchronization 439 20.4 Bar  test-pattern generator 448 20.5 Color-to-grayscale conversion circuit 449 20.6 Demo video system 451 20.7 Advanced video standards 452 20.8 Bibliographic notes 453 20.9 Suggested experiments 454 21 FPro Video Subsystem 457 21.1 Organization of video subsystem 457 21.2 FPro video IP core 461 21.3 Example video cores 466 21.4 FPro video synchronization core 470 21.5 Daisy video subsystem 479 21.6 Vanilla daisy FPro system 486 21.7 Video driver and testing program 490 21.8 Bibliographic notes 493 21.9 Suggested experiments 493 22 Sprite Core 497 22.1 Introduction 497 22.2 Basic design 498 22.3 Mouse pointer core 500 22.4 “Ghost” character core 505 22.5 Sprite core driver and testing program 513 22.6 Bibliographic notes 516 22.7 Suggested experiments 516 23 On-Screen-Display Core 519 23.1 Introduction to tile graphics 519 23.2 Basic OSD design 521 23.3 OSD core  524 23.4 OSD core driver and testing   program  530 23.5 Bibliographic notes  532 23.6 Suggested experiments  532 24 VGA  Frame  Buffer Core 535 24.1 Overview 535 24.2 Frame buffer core 536 24.3 Register map 540 24.4 Driver and testing program 542 543 24.5 Project Ideas 545 24.6 Bibliographic notes 547 24.7 Suggested experiments 547 PART V EPILOGUE 25  What Next 553 References 557 Appendix A: Tutorials 561 A.1 Overview of Xilinx Vivado  IDE 561 A.2 Short tutorial on Vivado hardware   development 565 A.3 Short tutorial on Vivado   simulation 570 A.4 Tutorial on IP instantiation 574 A.5 Short tutorial on FPro system   development 580 A.6 Bibliographic notes 587 Topic Index 589