2
Using a Hardware Description Language
2.1 Overview
This chapter gives a comprehensive coverage of Verilog and SystemVerilog. The focus is mostly on Verilog, which is a hardware description language (HDL).
The chapter starts with a discussion of a typical design cycle in implementing a signal processing application. The cycle starts with the requirements specification, followed by the design of an algorithm using tools like MATLAB®. To facilitate partitioning of the algorithm into hardware (HW) and software (SW), and its subsequent mapping on different platforms, algorithm design and coding techniques in MATLAB® are described. The MATLAB® code has to be structured so that the algorithm developers, SW designers and HW engineers can correlate various components and can seamlessly integrate, test and verify the design and can return to the original MATLAB® implementation if there are any discrepencies in the results.
The chapter then has a brief account of Verilog. As there are several textbooks available on Verilog [1-3], this chapter focuses primarily on design and coding guidelines and relevant rules. There is a particular emphasis on coding rules for keeping synthesis in perspective. A description of ‘register transfer level’ (RTL) Verilog is presented. RTL signifies the placement of registers in hardware while keeping an account of the movement of data among these registers.
SystemVerilog adds more features for modeling and verification. Although Verilog itself provides constructs ...
