Design Automation and Testing for FPGAs
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RTL VHDL restricts the scope of the designer as it precludes algo-
rithmic design – as we shall see later. This approach forces the
designer to think at quite a low level – making the resulting code
sometimes verbose and cumbersome. It also forces structural
decisions early in the design process – restrictive and not always
advisable, or helpful.
The Design process starts from RTL VHDL:
• Simulation (RTL) – is needed to develop a test bench
(VHDL).
• Synthesis (RTL) – targeted at a standard FPGA platform.
• Timing simulation (Structural) – simulate to check timing.
• Place and route using standard tools (e.g. Xilinx ...