Menu
I am looking at developing on an FPGA, but it would be easier for me to write the code in Python or Scala and have it converted to VHDL or Verilog.
I want to have many sensors hooked up to a device, and as the data comes in, calculations are done very quickly so it can be displayed on a video wall, so the FPGA would have as input dozens of sensors and several video controllers for the wall.
This is a library for code written in Scala. For this one I am curious if the code is written in Java and Scala would that affect what it generates.
http://simplifide.com/drupal6/
This is a python to VHDL converter.
http://www.myhdl.org/doku.php
With both of these I am curious as to the limitations.
I would prefer simplifide, as I am stronger at Scala than Python, but it seems that myhdl may be a more robust platform, just from some basic looking around.
UPDATE:
The reason for the FPGA is that it can do multiple tasks at one time very well, so when the data comes in, depending on the needs of users, based on the experiment, it would be easy to change the code on the FPGA to be able to adapt to the needs.
So, for example, if you have 8 x 3 different weather sensors on each floor of an office building, so there are temperature, wind speed, barometric sensors (8 of each sensor one each floor), and add sensors to test the deformation of the walls, then a real-time interface to read these in at the same time and keep updating the visual display may be helpful.
This is a made up example, but it would explain why an FPGA would be useful, otherwise I would need many different DSPs and then feed that into a computer to do the visual display, whereas an FPGA can do is faster, since it is hardware, with lower power needs.
There are two open-source libraries that can help make this easier in development, but I am not certain which would be a better platform to use to convert a program to VHDL/Verilog.
This is just one example. If I want to do a quantum circuit simulation on an FPGA, as this article suggests (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/computing/nano/documents/Radecka%20-%20FPGA%20Emulation%20of%20Quantum%20Circuits.pdf) then it would be easier to do this as a program, than building up a large circuit by hand.
898
Mentor Graphics ModelSim. Mentor Graphics Questa Advanced Simulator. Synopsys VCS-MX. Xilinx Vivado Design Suite (features the Vivado Simulator)
Verilog is a Hardware Description Language (HDL) which can be used to describe digital circuits in a textual manner. We will write our design for FPGA using Verilog (as if you write microcontroller programs in C and Assembly). Learning Verilog is not that hard if you have some programming background.
MPsim is a fast compiled simulator with full support for Verilog, SystemVerilog and SystemC. It includes Designer, integrated Verilog and SystemVerilog debugging environment and has built-in support for multi-cpu simulation. The first Verilog simulator available on the Windows OS.
VHDL is a rich and strongly typed language, deterministic and more verbose than Verilog. As a result, designs written in VHDL are considered self-documenting. Its syntax is non-C-like and engineers working in VHDL need to do extra coding to convert from one data type to another.
Yes there is a python style HDL available and its free. MYHDL
This will generate VHDL or verilog . It can also simulate the code and output .VDI and you can look that in gtkwave
alternately if you want to edit the VHDL code you can use GHDL. google it you get lots of resources. there is OS available Fedora Electronics Lab it has all the tools to develop modern electronics.
All these are open source. Build and simulate using these tools. To flash into the FPGA you need either xilinx or Altera tool chains to generate the bitstreams and flash them. All the best !
199
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With
