Title :
A novel tool to introduce FPGA in digital design laboratory
Author :
Donzellini, G. ; Ponta, D.
Author_Institution :
DITEN, Univ. of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
Abstract :
The new technological scenarios in digital systems demand the introduction of FPGA very early in digital design curricula. The approach that we present in the paper is based on a new tool that extends the features of Deeds, the design suite for digital circuits developed in our department. The FPGA extension allows students to compile a project generated with Deeds into an FPGA chip, reducing to a minimum the interaction with the FPGA-specific CAD. The tool is centered around a module that allows the student to associate all the input and output of the Deeds project to the devices and resources of an FPGA development board. A code generator will produce all the VHDL and script files needed by the CAD to compile the project and load it on the board for testing.
Keywords :
computer aided instruction; electronic engineering education; field programmable gate arrays; logic CAD; Deeds; FPGA development board; FPGA-specific CAD; VHDL; code generator; digital circuit; digital design curricula; digital design laboratory; Clocks; Digital circuits; Digital systems; Field programmable gate arrays; Microcomputers; Random access memory; Timing; Engineering education; FPGA; FSM; HDL; VHDL; circuit simulation; digital design;
Conference_Titel :
Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation (REV), 2012 9th International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Bilbao
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-2540-0
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4673-2541-7
DOI :
10.1109/REV.2012.6293135
