This is the module whose inputs and outputs are actual inputs and outputs on the FPGA’s pins. When you create any design, you will have a top-level module. It can be difficult to drastically change the flow of an entire design once you start writing it so the more planning that goes into the overall architecture before starting the better. This helps define the scope of your design and break it down logically. When you start a design, it is often helpful to draw out a block diagram showing the various modules and how they connect to each other. Some modules can be made to perform common tasks and are used over and over again. By breaking down your project into modules, you simplify the complexity of any one piece you need to work on at any given time. While it would be possible to put an entire design into a single module, it is better practice to use smaller modules to perform each piece of your design. A module could contain sub-modules or it could be stand-alone similar to how a program is broken down into functions. A module is a circuit block that has some number of inputs and outputs and contains some logic to glue them together. HDLs are typically based around the idea of a module. If you aren’t familiar with the following concepts, we recommend checking out these tutorials before continuing. Add it to your cart, read through the guide, and adjust the cart as necessary. You may not need everything though depending on what you have. To follow along with this tutorial, you will need the following materials. It is possible to describe circuits that are impossible to implement or to describe something that seems simple but takes a huge amount of resources to implement.īecause of this, having a good idea of how the circuit you are trying to describe could be implemented is critical. It’s important to keep in mind when creating designs for an FPGA that you are describing hardware and whatever you write will eventually end up as a physical circuit. Large complex designs would get too complicated to draw out with a schematic so instead we describe the behavior we want in the circuit and the tools figure out how to actually implement it. You don’t use programming languages to create circuits, you use hardware description languages (HDLs). It is often convenient to say we do just because it kind of feels like programming, you write some text, text is turned into a binary file, binary file is loaded on to the FPGA.īut you aren’t writing a program. Let’s just get something cleared up real quick before we dive in. In this tutorial I’m going to cover the basics of what creating designs for an FPGA looks like and the fundamental building blocks you get to use.
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