ECE 271, Chapter 4 Reading Report
Quentin Onyemordi
May 11, 2020
1 Chapter 4 Outline
This chapter is taking a different route on the outlook for logic and digital circuits by
highlighting topics related to Hardware
...
ECE 271, Chapter 4 Reading Report
Quentin Onyemordi
May 11, 2020
1 Chapter 4 Outline
This chapter is taking a different route on the outlook for logic and digital circuits by
highlighting topics related to Hardware Description Languages (HDL’s). Giving another
way of approaching the creation of combinational and sequential circuits.
1. Introduction
In the past chapters of this book there was an emphasis on the design of
schematics for both combinational and sequential logic. Although many of the methods
we have discussed have been great for gaining a fundamental understanding of key
concepts that go along with logic design, many of these methods are not necessarily the
most efficient. These processes ,such as manual simplification of truth tables and
Boolean equations, require a significant amount of work and are easy to make errors.
Tackling the task of logic design is actually much more efficient when approached from
a higher level of abstraction. This can be done by giving a computer aided design tool
the information about which logical functions are necessary, and in turn the tool
translates the information into logic gates. Specifications are generally via HDL which
are written most commonly in the two languages System Verilog and VHDL. A module is
known as a block or element of hardware that includes inputs and outputs. Logic gates,
Cyclic circuits and multiplexers are all examples of modules and the common way of
describing functionality of modules are behavioral and structural. Behavioral describes
the behavior of the module whereas structural describes the module from a hierarchical
perspective highlighting the module from its most basic components. The two major
purposes for the use of HDL’s are simulation and synthesis. Simulation allows for the
module to be tested and determine if it acts in the desired way. Humans are prone to
making mistakes and because of the huge risk that goes with mistakes such as
significant loss of money or life logic simulation has become an essential process to
work out bugs. The synthesis aspect is a great tool in which the HDL module is actually
converted into a netlist showing a visual representation of what types of logic gates are
used and how they are configured.
2. Combinational Logic
Since the way we approach building sequential circuits is by the unison of
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