Flow to HDL tools and methods convert flow-based system design into a
hardware description language
In computer engineering, a hardware description language (HDL) is a specialized computer language used to describe the structure and behavior of electronic circuits, and most commonly, digital logic circuits.
A hardware description language e ...
(HDL) such as
VHDL
The VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) is a hardware description language (HDL) that can model the behavior and structure of digital systems at multiple levels of abstraction, ranging from the system level down to that of logic gates ...
or
Verilog
Verilog, standardized as IEEE 1364, is a hardware description language (HDL) used to model electronic systems. It is most commonly used in the design and verification of digital circuits at the register-transfer level of abstraction. It is also ...
. Typically this is a method of creating designs for
field-programmable gate array
A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturinghence the term '' field-programmable''. The FPGA configuration is generally specified using a hardware d ...
,
application-specific integrated circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficie ...
prototyping and
digital signal processing
Digital signal processing (DSP) is the use of digital processing, such as by computers or more specialized digital signal processors, to perform a wide variety of signal processing operations. The digital signals processed in this manner are ...
(DSP) design. Flow-based system design is well-suited to field-programmable gate array design as it is easier to specify the innate parallelism of the architecture.
History
The use of flow-based design tools in engineering is a reasonably new trend.
Unified Modeling Language
The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose, developmental modeling language in the field of software engineering that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system.
The creation of UML was originally m ...
is the most widely used example for software design. The use of flow-based design tools allows for more holistic system design and faster development.
C to HDL
C to HDL tools convert C language or C-like computer code into a hardware description language (HDL) such as VHDL or Verilog. The converted code can then be synthesized and translated into a hardware device such as a field-programmable gate arr ...
tools and flow have a similar aim, but with
C or C-like
programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language.
The description of a programming ...
s.
Applications
Most applications are ones which take too long with existing supercomputer architectures. These include bioinformatics,
CFD, financial processing and oil and gas survey data analysis. Embedded applications that require high performance or real-time data processing are also an area of use.
System-on-a-chip
A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memory ...
design can also be done using this flow.
Examples
*Xilinx System Generator fro
Xilinx*StarBridge VIVA from defunct
*Nimbus from defunct <
Exsedia/s>
External links
an overview of flows by Daresbury Labs.
Xilinx's ESL initiative, some products listed and C to VHDL tools.
See also
*
ASIC, Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
*
C to HDL
C to HDL tools convert C language or C-like computer code into a hardware description language (HDL) such as VHDL or Verilog. The converted code can then be synthesized and translated into a hardware device such as a field-programmable gate arr ...
*
Comparison of Free EDA software
This page is a comparison of electronic design automation (EDA) software which is used today to design the near totality of electronic devices. Modern electronic devices are too complex to be designed without the help of a computer. Electronic dev ...
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Comparison of EDA Software
This page is a comparison of electronic design automation (EDA) software which is used today to design the near totality of electronic devices. Modern electronic devices are too complex to be designed without the help of a computer. Electronic dev ...
*
Complex programmable logic device (CPLD)
*
ELLA (programming language)
ELLA is a hardware description language and support toolset, developed in the United Kingdom by the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) during the 1980s and 1990s, which also developed the compiler for the programming language, ALGOL 68RS ...
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Electronic design automation
Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing Electronics, electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools wo ...
(EDA)
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Embedded C++
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Field Programmable Gate Array
A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturinghence the term '' field-programmable''. The FPGA configuration is generally specified using a hardware de ...
(FPGA)
*
Hardware description language
In computer engineering, a hardware description language (HDL) is a specialized computer language used to describe the structure and behavior of electronic circuits, and most commonly, digital logic circuits.
A hardware description language e ...
(HDL)
*
Handel-C
Handel-C is a high-level programming language which targets low-level hardware, most commonly used in the programming of FPGAs. It is a rich subset of C, with non-standard extensions to control hardware instantiation with an emphasis on paralleli ...
*
Icarus Verilog
Icarus Verilog is an implementation of the Verilog hardware description language compiler that generates netlists in the desired format ( EDIF). It supports the 1995, 2001 and 2005 versions of the standard, portions of SystemVerilog, and some exte ...
*
Lustre (programming language)
Lustre is a formally defined, declarative, and synchronous dataflow programming language for programming reactive systems. It began as a research project in the early 1980s. A formal presentation of the language can be found in the 1991 Procee ...
*
MyHDL MyHDL is a Python (programming language), Python-based hardware description language (HDL).
Features of MyHDL include:
* The ability to generate VHDL and Verilog code from a MyHDL design.
* The ability to generate a testbench (Conversion of test be ...
*
Open source software
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open ...
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Register transfer notation
Register Transfer Notation (or RTN) is a way of specifying the behavior of a digital synchronous circuit. An example of high-level RTN is Verilog, and a low-level example is Register Transfer Language
In computer science, register transfer lan ...
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Register transfer level
In digital circuit design, register-transfer level (RTL) is a design abstraction which models a synchronous digital circuit in terms of the flow of digital signals (data) between hardware registers, and the logical operations performed on those ...
(RTL)
*
Ruby (hardware description language)
Ruby is a hardware description language designed by in 1986 intended to facilitate the notation and development of integrated circuits via relational algebra and functional programming.
It should not be confused with RHDL, a hardware descripti ...
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SpecC
SpecC is a System Description Language (SDL), or System-level Design Language (SLDL), and is an extension of the ANSI C programming language. It is used to aid the design and specification of digital embedded systems, providing improved productiv ...
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SystemC
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SystemVerilog
SystemVerilog, standardized as IEEE 1800, is a hardware description and hardware verification language used to model, design, simulate, test and implement electronic systems. SystemVerilog is based on Verilog and some extensions, and since 200 ...
*
Systemverilog DPI
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VHDL
The VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) is a hardware description language (HDL) that can model the behavior and structure of digital systems at multiple levels of abstraction, ranging from the system level down to that of logic gates ...
*
VHDL-AMS
VHDL-AMS is a derivative of the hardware description language VHDL (IEEE standard 1076-1993). It includes analog and mixed-signal extensions (AMS) in order to define the behavior of analog and mixed-signal systems (IEEE 1076.1-1999).
The VHDL-AMS ...
*
Verilog
Verilog, standardized as IEEE 1364, is a hardware description language (HDL) used to model electronic systems. It is most commonly used in the design and verification of digital circuits at the register-transfer level of abstraction. It is also ...
*
Verilog-A
Verilog-A is an industry standard modeling language for analog circuits. It is the continuous-time subset of Verilog-AMS. A few commercial applications may export MEMS designs in Verilog-A format.
History
Verilog-A was created out of a need to st ...
*
Verilog-AMS
Verilog-AMS is a derivative of the Verilog hardware description language that includes analog and mixed-signal extensions (AMS) in order to define the behavior of analog and mixed-signal systems. It extends the event-based simulator loops of Veril ...
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Hardware description languages