2025-01-05

FPGA/ASIC Design with Verilog

Chapter 1: Introduction
Duong Ngoc Phap, Ph.D
Faculty of Computer Engineering and Electronics
Slides to accompany the textbook Digital Design, First Edition,
by Frank Vahid, John Wiley and Sons Publishers, 2007.
http://www.ddvahid.com

January 5, 2025

1.1

Why Study Digital Design?

 Look “under the hood” of computers
• Solid understanding --> confidence, insight, even
better programmer when aware of hardware
resource issues
 Electronic devices becoming digital
• Enabled by shrinking and more capable chips
• Enables:
 Better devices: Better sound recorders, cameras,
cars, cell phones, medical devices,...
 New devices: Video games, PDAs, ...
• Known as “embedded systems”
 Thousands of new devices every year
 Designers needed: Potential career direction

Satellites DVD Video Musical

players recorders instruments
Portable
music players Cell phones Cameras TVs ???

1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007

• Years shown above indicate when digital version began to dominate
– (Not the first year that a digital version appeared)
Note: Slides with animation are denoted with a small red "a" near the animated items 2
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1.2

What Does “Digital” Mean?

 Analog signal • Digital signal
• Inifinite possible values – Finite possible values
Ex: voltage on a wire • Ex: button pressed on a
created by microphone keypad
Sound waves
move the
membrane, 1 2 3 4

which moves
2
digital
the magnet,
signal
microphone
analog
which creates
signal
current in the nearby wire
Possible values: Possible values:
1.00, 1.01, 2.0000009, 4
value

value
0, 1, 2, 3, or 4.
... infinite possibilities 3 That’s it.
2
1
0
time time

Digital Signals with Only Two Values: Binary

 Binary digital signal -- only two
possible values
• Typically represented as 0 and 1
value

• One binary digit is a bit

1
• We’ll only consider binary digital 0
signals time
• Binary is popular because
Transistors, the basic digital electric
component, operate using two
voltages (more in Chpt. 2)
Storing/transmitting one of two values
is easier than three or more (e.g., loud
beep or quiet beep, reflection or no
reflection)

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Example of Digitization Benefit

 Analog signal (e.g., audio) may

lengthy transmission
Volts
lose quality

(e.g, cell phone)

3 3
• Voltage levels not 2 2
saved/copied/transmitted
perfectly 1 original signal 1 received signal
0 0
 Digitized version enables near- time time
perfect save/cpy/trn. How fix -- higher, lower, ?
• “Sample” voltage at particular 01 10 11 10 11
rate, save sample using bit

lengthy transmission
a2d

(e.g, cell phone)

encoding

Volts
a

• Voltage levels still not kept

perfectly 1 digitized signal 1
• But we can distinguish 0s 0
from 1s 0
time time
Can fix -- easily distinguish 0s
Let bit encoding be: 01 10 11 10 11 and 1s, restore
1 V: “01” Digitized signal not d2a
2 V: “10” perfect re-creation, 3
Volts

3 V: “11” but higher sampling

rate and more bits per 2
encoding brings closer. 1
0 time
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Digitized Audio: Compression Benefit

 Digitized audio can be Example compression scheme:
compressed 00 --> 0000000000
• e.g., MP3s 01 --> 1111111111
1X --> X
• A CD can hold about
20 songs
uncompressed, but 0000000000 0000000000 0000001111 1111111111
about 200 compressed 00 00 10000001111 01
 Compression also done
on digitized pictures
(jpeg), movies (mpeg),
and more
 Digitization has many
other benefits too

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How Do We Encode Data as Binary for

Our Digital System?
a
analog button

phenomena  Some inputs inherently binary

0 1
• Button: not pressed (0),
sensors and
other inputs pressed (1) red blue green black
electric digital
signal data
 Some inputs inherently digital 0 0 0

A2D • Just need encoding in binary red blue green black

digital • e.g., multi-button input:

data encode red=001, blue=010, ... 0 0 1

Digital System  Some inputs analog red blue green black

digital digital • Need analog-to-digital 0 1 0

data data conversion air 33
D2A
• As done in earlier slide -- degrees
electric
signal sample and encode with bits temperature
actuators and sensor
other outputs

0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1

How to Encode Text: ASCII, Unicode

 ASCII: 7- (or 8-) bit Symbol Encoding Symbol Encoding

encoding of each
R 1010010 r 1110010
S 1010011 s 1110011

letter, number, or
T 1010100 t 1110100
L 1001100 l 1101100

symbol
N 1001110 n 1101110
E 1000101 e 1100101
0 0110000 9 0111001

 Unicode: Increasingly .
<tab>
0101110
0001001
!
<space>
0100001
0100000

popular 16-bit bit

encoding Question:
What does this ASCII bit sequence represent?
• Encodes characters 1010010 1000101 1010011 1010100
from various world
languages a

REST

Note: small red “a” (a) in a slide indicates animation

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How to Encode Numbers: Binary

Numbers
 Each position represents a
quantity; symbol in
position means how many
of that quantity
• Base ten (decimal) 5 2 3

Ten symbols: 0, 1, 2, ..., 8, 104 103 102 101 100

and 9
More than 9 -- next position
• So each position power of 10
Nothing special about base
10 -- used because we have
10 fingers 1 0 1 Q: How much?
• Base two (binary) 24 23 22 21 20 + =
Two symbols: 0 and 1 a

More than 1 -- next position

• So each position power of 2 4+ 1= 5

How to Encode Numbers: Binary

Numbers
 Working with binary numbers
• In base ten, helps to know
powers of 10 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
 one, ten, hundred, thousand,
ten thousand, ... 512 256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
• In base two, helps to know
powers of 2
 one, two, four, eight, sixteen,
thirty two, sixty four, one
hundred twenty eight
• (Note: unlike base ten, we don’t
have common names, like
“thousand,” for each position in
base ten -- so we use the base
ten name)
 Q: count up by powers of two 512 256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 a

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Converting from Decimal to Binary

Numbers: Subtraction Method (Easy for
Humans)
 Goal Desired decimal number: 12
• Get the binary weights to
add up to the decimal 32 16 8
1
4 2 1
=32
quantity 32 16 8 4 2 1
too much

Work from left to right 0 1 =16

too much
(Right to left – may fill in 1s 32 16 8 4 2 1
a

that shouldn’t have been 0 0 1 =8

there – try it). 32 16 8 4 2 1
ok, keep going

0 0 1 1 =8+4=12
DONE
32 16 8 4 2 1

0 0 1 1 0 0 answer
32 16 8 4 2 1

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Converting from Decimal to Binary

Numbers: Subtraction Method (Easy for
Humans)
 Subtraction method Remaining quantity: 12
• To make the job easier
(especially for big numbers),
we can just subtract a 32 16 8 4 2 1

selected binary weight from 1 32 is

too much
the (remaining) quantity 32 16 8 4 2 1

Then, we have a new 0 1 16 is

remaining quantity, and we 32 16 8 4 2 1
too much
start again (from the present a

binary position) 0 0 1 12 – 8 = 4
Stop when remaining quantity 32 16 8 4 2 1
is 0
0 0 1 1 4-4=0
DONE
32 16 8 4 2 1

0 0 1 1 0 0 answer
32 16 8 4 2 1

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Converting from Decimal to Binary

Numbers:
Subtraction Method Example
• Q: Convert the number “23” from decimal to binary
A: Remaining quantity Binary Number
23 0 0 0 0 0 0
32 16 8 4 2 1

23 0 1 0 0 0 0
-16 32 16 8 4 2 1
a
7

7 0 1 0 1 0 0
-4 32 16 8 4 2 1
3 8 is more than 7, can’t use

4 0 1 0 1 1 0
-2 32 16 8 4 2 1
1

1 0 1 0 1 1 1
-1 32 16 8 4 2 1
0
Done! 23 in decimal is 10111 in binary.
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Converting from Decimal to Binary

Numbers: Division Method (Good for
Computers)
 Divide decimal number by 2 and insert remainder into new binary number.
• Continue dividing quotient by 2 until the quotient is 0.
 Example: Convert decimal number 12 to binary

Decimal Number Binary Number

6
2 12 divide by 2 0
-12 1
0
insert remainder

Continue dividing since quotient (6) is greater than 0

3
2 6 divide by 2 0 0
-6 2 1
0
insert remainder
Continue dividing since quotient (3) is greater than 0

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Converting from Decimal to Binary

Numbers: Division Method (Good for
Computers)
 Example: Convert decimal number 12 to binary (continued)

Decimal Number Binary Number

1 1 0 0
2 3 divide by 2 4 2 1
-2
1
insert remainder

Continue dividing since quotient (1) is greater than 0

0 1 1 0 0
2 1 divide by 2 8 4 2 1
-0
1
insert remainder
Since quotient is 0, we can conclude that 12 is 1100 in binary

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Base Sixteen: Another Base Sometimes

Used by Digital Designers
8 A F  Nice because each position represents
16 4 16 3 16 2 16 1 16 0 four base two positions
8 A F • Used as compact means to write binary
numbers
1000 1010 1111
 Known as hexadecimal, or just hex
hex bina ry hex bina ry

0 0000 8 1000
1 0001 9 1001
2 0010 A 1010
3 0011 B 1011
4 0100 C 1100
5 0101 D 1101 Q: Write 11110000 in hex
6 0110 E 1110
7 0111 F 1111
F0 a

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1.3
Implementing Digital Systems:
Programming Microprocessors Vs. Designing Digital Circuits
Programmed Custom designed
Desired motion-at-night detector microprocessor  Microprocessors a
digital circuit common choice to
implement a digital
system
• Easy to program
• Cheap (as low as $1)
• Available now

MI0 P0 void main() 1

ropI1 P1 { a
ro
c I2 P2
0
while (1) { 1
I3 P3 P0 = I0 && !I1; b
I4 P4 0
// F = a and !b,
I5 P5 1
I6 P6 } F
0
I7 P7 }
6:00 7:05 7:06 9:00 9:01 time

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Digital Design: When Microprocessors Aren’t Good

Enough
• With microprocessors so easy, cheap, and Q: How long for each
available, why design a digital circuit? Image Sensor Micro- implementation option?
processor
• Microprocessor may be too slow
• Or too big, power hungry, or costly (a) (Read, 5+8+11
Compress,
Memory and Store) =24 sec

Image Sensor Read Compress

circuit circuit
.1+.5+.8
Sample digital camera task execution times (in seconds) on
(b) =1.4 sec
a microprocessor versus a digital circuit:
Store a
Memory
circuit

Task Microprocessor Custom

Digital Circuit Image Sensor Read Compress
circuit circuit
Read 5 0.1 .1+.5+1
Compress 8 0.5 (c) =1.6 sec
Microprocessor
Store 1 0.8 Memory (Store) Good
compromise

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Chapter Summary
 Digital systems surround us
• Inside computers
• Inside huge variety of other electronic devices (embedded
systems)
 Digital systems use 0s and 1s
• Encoding analog signals to digital can provide many benefits
e.g., audio -- higher-quality storage/transmission, compression, etc.
• Encoding integers as 0s and 1s: Binary numbers
 Microprocessors (themselves digital) can implement many
digital systems easily and inexpensively
• But often not good enough -- need custom digital circuits
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Q&A

January 5, 2025
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