Digital Design (VHDL): An Embedded Systems Approach Using VHDL
Digital Design: An Embedded Systems Approach Using VHDL provides a foundation in digital design for students in computer engineering, electrical engineering and computer science courses. It takes an up-to-date and modern approach of presenting digital logic design as an activity in a larger systems design context.
Rather than focus on aspects of digital design that have little relevance in a realistic design context, this book concentrates on modern and evolving knowledge and design skills. Hardware description language (HDL)-based design and verification is emphasized--VHDL examples are used extensively throughout. By treating digital logic as part of embedded systems design, this book provides an understanding of the hardware needed in the analysis and design of systems comprising both hardware and software components.
Includes a Web site with links to vendor tools, labs and tutorials.
- Presents digital logic design as an activity in a larger systems design context
- Features extensive use of VHDL examples to demonstrate HDL (hardware description language) usage at the abstract behavioural level and register transfer level, as well as for low-level verification and verification environments
- Includes worked examples throughout to enhance the reader's understanding and retention of the material
- Companion Web site includes links to tools for FPGA design from Synplicity, Mentor Graphics, and Xilinx, VHDL source code for all the examples in the book, lecture slides, laboratory projects, and solutions to exercises
Why Read This Book
You should read this book if you want a practical, system-oriented introduction to digital design using VHDL: you will learn how to model, simulate, verify, and synthesize real digital hardware as part of embedded systems. It emphasizes modern HDL-based design and verification techniques and connects low-level logic design to higher-level embedded system concerns, making it especially useful for engineers who plan to target FPGAs or integrate custom logic with microcontrollers.
Who Will Benefit
Undergraduate or early-career engineers and students in computer/electrical engineering or computer science who need to design and verify digital hardware using VHDL and integrate it into embedded systems.
Level: Intermediate — Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of Boolean algebra and digital logic concepts, basic familiarity with programming (any language), and introductory circuit/electronics concepts.
Key Takeaways
- Model digital systems in VHDL using multiple abstraction styles (behavioral, dataflow, structural).
- Design and analyze combinational and synchronous sequential circuits, including finite-state machines.
- Create testbenches and apply HDL-based simulation and verification practices to validate designs.
- Translate VHDL descriptions into synthesizable implementations and understand synthesis constraints and timing issues.
- Map and implement designs on FPGA/CPLD platforms and reason about hardware/software integration for embedded systems.
Topics Covered
- Introduction: Digital Design in a Systems Context
- Review of Boolean Algebra and Logic Functions
- Combinational Logic Design and Optimization
- Sequential Circuits and Timing Fundamentals
- VHDL Foundations: Syntax, Types, and Modeling Styles
- Behavioral, Dataflow, and Structural Descriptions
- Finite-State Machines and Control Logic
- Arithmetic and Datapath Design
- Testbenches, Simulation, and Verification Techniques
- Synthesis, Timing Constraints, and Implementation Issues
- FPGA/CPLD Architectures and Practical Considerations
- Hardware-Software Interface and Embedded System Examples
- Design Methodology, Case Studies, and Project Development
Languages, Platforms & Tools
How It Compares
Covers much of the same HDL-focused territory as Brown & Vranesic's Fundamentals of Digital Logic with VHDL Design but places stronger emphasis on system-level, embedded design context and verification; it is more VHDL-centric and modern in approach than classic texts like Mano's Digital Design.
