CSE 370 Introductory Laboratory Assignment
Designs in FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array)
Assigned: Monday, April 27, 2009
Due: Beginning of Next Lab Section
Objectives
In this laboratory assignment you will work extensively with Verilog and
Active-HDL to design an 8-bit accumulator. When you have finished designing
the accumulator you will implement it on your FPGA to try it out. To help
you through this process we will guide you with design steps for each
part of the accumulator; however it will be your job to figure out how to
put them together properly and make it work on the FPGA. If you finish
early, feel free to explore the FPGA, you have over 18000 logic elements in
the FPGA, more than you will probably ever need for what we’re doing.
Before You Begin
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For this lab, it is strongly suggested that you create a NEW design in your
workspace. Call it: lab5. Typically we don’t enforce this kind of
organization, however good organization makes debugging easier and it
reduces the chance for errors.
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You will need the pinouts in order to write the (.qsf) file for your
designs. You can access the link here: Pinouts.
Important Verilog to Know:
You should probably reference these two guides for basic verilog. If you don't
use them you might be very lost when writing verilog!
Verilog Reference
Verilog Lecture Notes
In this lab you will be coding a portion of your design in Verilog, a
hardware description language. Although it may look like a programming
language Verilog is actually a hardware language which acts as a medium in
which to describe hardware with words. An important thing to remember about
Verilog is that your code runs in parallel! It is not sequential like most
programming languages, this means that any statements you write will all be
run at the exact same time. Sequential logic does not apply to the previous
statement.
In this lab you will have to assign a 7-bit value to an 7-bit bus for your
hexadecimal display. There are many ways to do assignments in Verilog,
although there are two basic ones which you should know about. One way is to
directly assign the decimal value: "out = 48;", another way is to directly
assign the binary value: "out = 7’b0110000;". Both of these methods work, it’s
up to you on how you want to assign your values. Remember, if you choose to
do the binary format, the rightmost digit is the least significant and the
leftmost digit is the most significant.
In this lab you will also have to be able to do comparisons and assign
values based on the comparisons. There are two ways to do this, and based on
the situation one may be better than another. One method is to use the
ternary where you do a comparison and based on the comparison either one
statement is executed or another. For example "out = ( X== 1 ) ? 48 : 0;". In
this example you see that 'out' will be assigned the value 48 if X is equal to
1, otherwise it is assigned the value 0. You can nest these ternaries inside
each other as well, which gives you many layers of comparisons.
Another way to do comparisons is inside an ALWAYS block in Verilog. Inside
ALWAYS blocks you can do if statements and case statements. However, an
ALWAYS block is only triggered when the variable attached to it changes.
Take a look at the example Verilog code here: example.v. It will explain the
usage of an ALWAYS block for comparisons. Read the comments in example.v!
Hexadecimal Display Background Information:
We will begin by writing a decoder to display values to the hexadecimal
display on the board. If you look to the left side of the board above
LEDR5-9 you should see 4 hexadecimal displays. They are labeled HEX0, HEX1,
HEX2, and HEX3. They are called HEX because they are made to display the
hexadecimal values 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, b, C, d, E, F. If you
recall, hexadecimal values are made up of 4 binary values. So for example,
the binary value 0001 would correspond with the hexadecimal value of 1, and
the binary value 1111 would correspond with the hexadecimal value of F.
With this background information you need to build a hexadecimal decoder
that takes in 4 bits and outputs a 7 bit value for the 7-segment hexadecimal
display. It is a 7-segment display because each of the 7 segments in one
hexadecimal display can be toggled on and off. When you give it a high value
(1) it turns off, and when you give it a low value (0) it turns on. Finally
you need to know how the 7 segment display is ordered, you can go to
documentation here:
Documentation and look at page 30 and 31. There will be a nice picture
that tells you how the 7-segment display is ordered.
Tasks
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Your first task is to code up the 4-bit number to 7-bit segment display.
Make sure your Verilog module has a 4 bit input bus and a 7 bit output
bus. Once you have made your Verilog module you can test it by writing a
(.qsf) file which directs the 4 inputs to SW0-3, and the 7 ouputs to
HEX0, 0-6. Writing the (.qsf) for a Verilog file is just like writing a
(.qsf) for a Block Diagram file (.bde), you have to assign pins to input
and outputs. So in the case where you have the following at the
beginning of your Verilog file:
module toHex (output [6:0] y, input [3:0] x);
You will need to assign pins for in[0], in[1], in[2], in[3], out[0],
out[1], out[2], and out[3], etc. If you don’t understand this concept ask
your TA to come over and explain it to you in more detail. After writing
up your (.qsf) you should implement your design onto your FPGA you can
test your 4 bit to HEX decoder to make sure it works. Go through all the
values 1-15 and make sure the HEX displays the correct value. If you are too
lazy to program it onto the FPGA, verify your code in simulation.
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Your next task is to download the accumulator we have provided here for
you: register_8_bit.v. What this
accumulator will do is save up to 8
bits inside itself in the form of registers. Each time you add or
subtract it will add or subtract the value you specified from the saved
value inside the accumulator. Negative numbers are stored but your 7-bit
segment display will only show HEX so it will be difficult to tell. Now
you should test your accumulator to figure out how it works. Create a
block diagram and add the accumulator and four 4-bit to hex displays
onto the block diagram. Create the following inputs and outputs on your
block diagram:
1. One, 8-bit input bus that will be driven by SW0-7.
2. Two, 1-bit wire that will be driven by KEY0-1 which will be clear
and store.
3. One, 1-bit wire that will be driven by SW9 which will be addsub.
(Which we will use later for your 8 bit adder/subtractor)
4. Four, 7-bit outputs that will be driven by HEX0-3 will be for the
outputs of your 4-bit to hex converter.
You should hook up the 8-bit input that is driven by the switches to the
8-bit input on the accumulator. Also hook up the clear and store signals
on the accumulator to the two inputs that will be driven by KEY0-1. Now
add four copies of your 4-bit to hex converters to the block diagram.
The first two will be connected to the 8-bit input of the accumulator,
and the last two will be connected to the 8-bit output of the
accumulator. Now you have four 4-bit to hex converters with 7-bit
outputs. Hook them up to the four 7-bit outputs you made earlier.
Now you need to write a pin assignment file (.qsf) for all of your
inputs and outputs. When that is completed, synthesize and implement
your design onto the FPGA. Test to make sure that it is working
correctly. Does the value of the switches display on the HEX display?
Does the value saved inside the accumulator show on the HEX display as
well? When you feel it is all working call over your TA for a check off.
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Your next task is to create an 8-bit adder/subtractor. In short, an 8
bit adder/subtractor is a module which takes in 8 bits for A, 8 bits for
B, and a single signal for if you want to add or subtract and returns an
8 bit Sum. Write this 8-bit adder/subtractor up in verilog.
Remember that verilog has built in addition and subtraction operators so you
should make use of them.
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When this part of your design is completed you need to bring it all
together. How can you use the accumulator and 8-bit adder/subtractor to
add together the value on the switch and the value saved inside the
accumulator and save it back to the accumulator? When you figure it out
wire it up correctly and write the (.qsf) file for your design.
Synthesize and Implement it onto the FPGA and test it out. Does it work?
If it does call over your TA for a checkoff.
Lab Demonstration/Turn-In Requirements
A TA needs to "Check You Off" for each of the tasks listed below.
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Check off your working Hex Decoder connected to the accumulator.
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Check off your working 8-bit accumulator.
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