Expert VHDL

Expert VHDL comprises

• Expert VHDL Design: (2 days) is for design engineers wishing to deepen their knowledge of RTL synthesis using VHDL, and to improve their VHDL coding style with design maintainability and re-use in mind. Design for Verification is also covered with an introduction to modern assertion-based techniques.
• Expert VHDL Verification: (3 days) is for design engineers and verification engineers involved in VHDL test bench development or behavioural modelling for the purpose of functional verification. The modules, which may be attended together or independently, follow on from the industry standard class, Comprehensive VHDL. Carefully designed workshops comprise approximately 50% of teaching time, and enable engineers to apply their new skills in the context of the latest VHDL design tools, practices and methodologies.

Who should attend?

• Design engineers wishing to improve the efficiency of their hardware designs and increase productivity
• Design and verification engineers who want to structure and write effective test environments to verify complex designs and systems

What will you learn?

• A set of VHDL language features that go beyond what is taught on a basic training class
• A deeper understanding of the VHDL language and how to apply it, enabling you to troubleshoot VHDL simulation and synthesis problems with ease
• The principles and details of how to approach the problem of design verification using VHDL
• How to structure and write large and complex VHDL test benches
• The principles and details of how to write behavioural models of hardware components in VHDL
• To produce smaller and faster hardware design using VHDL and RTL synthesis tools
• A solid introduction to the topic of behavioural synthesis from VHDL, enabling you to judge the applicability and effectiveness of behavioural synthesis in your design context
• The details of a VHDL coding style to facilitate code re-use and how to package IP for re-use
• An introduction to IEEE 1076-2007c (VHPI) and the proposed VHDL 2008

Prerequisites

This is an advanced language and methodology training class. Prior attendance of the Doulos Comprehensive VHDL class (or equivalent) is required, and at least 6 months of 'live' project experience using VHDL is strongly recommended. Delegates attending the Expert Design module must have knowledge and experience of register transfer level coding and synthesis using VHDL.

Training materials

Doulos training materials are renowned as the most comprehensive and user friendly available. Their style, content and coverage is unique in the HDL training world and has made them sought after resources in their own right. Class fees include:

• Fully indexed class notes creating a complete reference manual
• Workbook full of practical examples to help you apply your knowledge
• Doulos Golden Reference Guide for language, syntax, semantics and tips
• Tour guides (to support the tools and technologies of your choice)

Structure and Content

Expert VHDL Design (Days 1-2)

• RTL
  • Synthesising combinational and sequential logic
  • Using variables in clocked processes
  • Multiple drivers and tri-states
  • RTL functions and procedures
  • Kinds of decision-making logic
  • Using hierarchy to control synthesis
  • Timing constraints, area constraints, and optimisation options
  • Using generate and attributes for mapping onto FPGAs
  • Optimal one-hot decoding
  • Input hazards and metastability
  • Multiple clock edges
  • Synchronisation between clock domains
  • Synchronising reset signals
  • Synthesis methodology for large designs
• IP and Reuse with VHDL
  • Using standard packages
  • Language level re-use
  • Standard component re-use
  • General re-use
  • Economic payback from re-use
  • Packaging IP for re-use
  • Impact of IP on the development cycle Writing re-usable RTL VHDL
  • Readability and maintainability
  • Seeing generaliseable properties Array attributes, cloning ranges
  • Arrays of arrays, unconstrained arrays, others
  • Creating regular structures using loops and generate
  • Using generics to parameterise widths and structures
• VHDL Coding Styles for IP Block Design
  • Records
  • Using records and aliases for abstraction
  • Matrices
  • Converting between matrices and arrays
  • Representing register banks
  • Implementing destructive reads
  • State machine coding styles Synthesis and hardware encoding of state machines
  • Recursive instantiation and recursive functions
• Design for Verification with Assertions
  • Reasons for designing with assertions
  • Properties and assertions
  • Examples in OVL

Expert VHDL Verification (Days 3-5)

• VHDL Language
  • Subprograms, parameters, assigning signals
  • User defined packages
  • User defined array types
  • Record types, selected names, aggregates, arrays of records
  • Types, subtypes and overloading, conversion functions
  • Qualified expressions
  • Generics, string generics, array generics
  • Configurations, binding and dependencies, generic and port maps
• Verification Environments and Methodology
  • The Verification Plan
  • Structure of a simple test bench
  • Structure of a complex test bench
  • Procedural stimulus generation
  • Reactive test benches
  • File I/O; TEXTIO and 'C'
  • Measuring delays
  • Monitoring internal signals
  • Generating random numbers
  • Collecting diagnostic data
  • Scoreboards
  • Coping with latency and Out-of-Order completion
  • Control files
  • Adding a user interface to a test bench
  • Writing behavioural models
  • Generic and parameterised test benches
  • How to implement functional coverage
  • How to implement run-time parameterisation
  • A re-usable generic approach to creating verification environments
  • Example code to take away
• How VHDL works
  • Signal assignments
  • Events and inertial delay
  • Deltas Drivers and resolution functions
  • Wait statements
  • NOW
  • Static elaboration, the network model
  • Dynamic elaboration, elaborating arrays and files in subprograms
  • VHDL Attributes
• Component Modeling
  • Representing state
  • Example - behavioural modeling of a serial thermometer chip
  • Giving visibility of internal state
  • Modeling external timing relationships
  • Checking timing constraints using signal attributes
  • 1164 strength strippers
  • Handling 'X' on the inputs
  • Modeling memories
  • Modeling analogue blocks
  • Bus-functional models
  • Processor models
  • Foreign bodies for including C models for interfacing to emulators