FPGA Prototyping By Verilog Examples: Xilinx Spartan-3 Version [Hardcover]

Pong P. Chu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0470185325 | ISBN-13: 978-0470185322 | Edition: 1

FPGA Prototyping Using Verilog Examples will provide you with a hands-on introduction to Verilog synthesis and FPGA programming through a “learn by doing” approach. By following the clear, easy-to-understand templates for code development and the numerous practical examples, you can quickly develop and simulate a sophisticated digital circuit, realize it on a prototyping device, and verify the operation of its physical implementation. This introductory text that will provide you with a solid foundation, instill confidence with rigorous examples for complex systems and prepare you for future development tasks.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Chu (Cleveland State University) has written several volumes covering Verilog and VHDL, the two major hardware definition languages used in the design of smaller digital systems. The volume reviewed here is an introduction to Verilog only. The book assumes that the student is already familiar with basic digital circuits. After an introductory section, the remainder of the work consists of worked examples that should be quite easily understood by students. Each chapter ends with suggested exercises that build directly on the examples from that chapter. There are sections that are specific to Xilinx Spartan FPGAs and in some cases, specific to the Digilent S3 prototyping board. A course that uses different hardware would need to provide supplementary material before using this book as a resource. Chu writes in a pedagogically sound manner and includes good coverage of the Verilog language, with nice attention to the differences between the 1995 and 2001 versions of the language. The volume suffers from some sloppy editing (e.g., a reference to VHDL instead of Verilog in one place, an incorrect timing parameter value in the appendix, miscellaneous typos) and a very skimpy index. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. -- C. Vickery, Queens College of CUNY (Choice, February 2009)

From the Back Cover

A hands-on introduction to Verilog synthesis and FPGA prototyping

Hardware Descriptive Language (HDL) and Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices allow designers to quickly develop and simulate a sophisticated digital circuit, realize it on a prototyping device, and verify the operation of its physical implementation. As these technologies have matured and become mainstream practice, it is now possible to use a PC and an inexpensive FPGA prototyping board to construct a complex digital system.

This book utilizes a "learn by doing" approach to introduce the concepts and techniques of Verilog and FPGA to designers through a series of hands-on experiments. FPGA Prototyping by Verilog Examples provides:

• A collection of clear, easy-to-follow templates for quick code development

• A large number of practical examples to illustrate and reinforce the concepts and design techniques

• Realistic projects that can be implemented and tested on a Xilinx prototyping board

• A thorough exploration of the Xilinx PicoBlaze soft-core microcontroller

Although the book is an introductory text, the examples are developed in a rigorous manner and the derivations follow strict design guidelines and coding practices used for large, complex systems. It lays a solid foundation for students and new engineers and prepares them for future development tasks. FPGA Prototyping by Verilog Examples is an indispensable companion text for digital design courses and also serves as a valuable self-teaching guide for practicing engineers who wish to learn more about this emerging area of interest.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 518 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Interscience; 1 edition (June 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470185325
• ISBN-13: 978-0470185322
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 1.2 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #115,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Computers & Technology > Hardware > Microprocessors & System Design > Embedded Systems
  • #8 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > Logic

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best introductory book November 12, 2008

By Mike K.

Format:Hardcover

This is perhaps the best introductory Verilog book. It introduces the digital system design methodology and demonstrates the key language concepts and constructs via a series of practical examples, all of them can be physically implemented and tested in an inexpensive Xilinx FPGA board.

There are three parts:
-Part 1 introduces key Verilog language constructs, and systematically shows how to construct combinational circuit, sequential circuit, FSM, and FSMD (FSM with data path) by these constructs.
-Part 2 utilizes the methodologies and techniques of part 1 to design interface and control circuits for an array of I/O modules of the prototyping board, including UART, keyboard, mouse, SRAM, graphic VGA, and textual VGA.
-Part 3 introduces PicoBlaze (an 8-bit soft-core micro-controller) and demonstrates how to integrate a processor to an FPGA design and develop customized I/O.

Pros:
-It utilizes a hands-on approach to introduce Verilog and design methodology.
-It introduces Verilog from hardware's point of view (rather than C's point of view) and emphasizes the key concepts behind HDL.
-The design methodology and coding practice used the in the book are sound and can be applied to larger system.
-It contains an advanced chapter that clarifies several confusing Verilog constructs, such as blocking/non-blocking assignments and signed data type.
-It contains a chapter on soft-core micro-controller and shows the integration of general-purpose processor and customized circuit.

Cons (actually caveats):
-The book is more towards applying Verilog for digital system design rather than the Verilog language. It only covers key Verilog language constructs. You may need another book to learn the complete "language."
-You need to purchase a prototyping board (around $100) to take full advantage of this book.
-The book covers PicoBlaze (a simple 8-bit processor), not its the full-blown big brother, MicroBlaze (a 32-bit processor). The later perhaps is too complicated for an introductory book.

[Update 03/2013]
The author recently published another book, Embedded SoPC Design with Nios II Processor and Verilog Examples. Please take a look of my review and decide which one fits you better.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun with Verilog and FPGAs! February 7, 2010

By Juan Gutierrez

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any student that feels the need to brush up on their Verilog and FPGA skills. The projects are very exciting and interesting. The pong game example was simply AMAZING. During my college career most of my Verilog/FPGA courses were in the first half, the second half was more microcontroller/software engineering oriented. So it was a natural choice to brush up again on HDL fundamentals before going into job interviews. Initially I did a quick read through of the book to get a basic idea of the author's style and methodology. My second pass through the book I coded along and did some of the suggested examples. This book is worth the money and the time. The author is easy to follow and easy to understand. I'll also be purchasing the VHDL book from the same author.

Please be aware that this is not a book on the Verilog language. It's a project based guide to writing efficient and synthesizable code for FPGA implementation. This book is written to be used with the Xilinx Spartan-3 board, so it is vital you have this board or a version that is somewhat compatible.

TL;DR: The author is clear, and easy to understand. The examples are COOL! If you love project based learning then this is the book for you.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Kimble Version is Broken December 30, 2011

By Ian J Fritz

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

As with the VHDL version (see Amazon review), the Kindle version of this book is so full of errors that it is practicaly impossible to read. As the VHDL reviewer said, the code examples are full of typographical errors and missing symbols. The author, PP Chu, has assured me that the Verilog print version has no errors.