Book description
Making VHDL a simple and easy-to-use hardware description language
Many engineers encountering VHDL (very high speed integrated circuits
hardware description language) for the first time can feel overwhelmed
by it. This book bridges the gap between the VHDL language and the
hardware that results from logic synthesis with clear organisation,
progressing from the basics of combinational logic, types, and
operators; through special structures such as tristate buses, register
banks and memories, to advanced themes such as developing your own
packages, writing test benches and using the full range of synthesis types.
This third edition has been substantially rewritten to include the
new VHDL-2008 features that enable synthesis of fixed-point and
floating-point hardware. Extensively updated throughout to reflect
modern logic synthesis usage, it also contains a complete case study
to demonstrate the updated features.
Features to this edition include:
- a common VHDL subset which will work across a range of different
synthesis systems, targeting a very wide range of technologies
- a design style that results in long design lifetimes, maximum
design reuse and easy technology retargeting
- a new chapter on a large scale design example based on a digital
filter from design objective and design process, to testing
strategy and test benches
- a chapter on writing test benches, with everything needed to
implement a test-based design strategy
- extensive coverage of data path design, including integer,
fixed-point and floating-point arithmetic, logic circuits,
shifters, tristate buses, RAMs, ROMs, state machines, and decoders
Focused specifically on logic synthesis, this book is for
professional hardware engineers using VHDL for logic synthesis, and
digital systems designers new to VHDL but familiar with digital
systems. It offers all the knowledge and tools needed to use VHDL for
logic synthesis. Organised in themed chapters and with a comprehensive
index, this complete reference will also benefit postgraduate students
following courses on microelectronics or VLSI/ semiconductors and
digital design.
