VERILOG HARDWARE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE-electronic systems, particularly digital circuits

VERILOG HARDWARE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE-electronic systems, particularly digital circuits

 Verilog is hardware description language (HDL) used to model and design electronic systems, particularly digital circuits. It allows designers to describe the behavior and structure of circuits at various levels of abstraction, from high level behavioral description to a low level gate level implementation. Verilog is widely used in design and verification of ASICs (Application Specific Integrated circuits) and FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays).

Key Features and Uses:

Description of Hardware: Verilog provides a textual way to represent the functionality and structure of digital circuits.

Multiple Levels of Abstraction: It supports different levels of abstraction, allowing designers to choose the most suitable levels for their needs:

·         Behavioral: Describes the functionality of circuit using high level programming constructs.

·         Register Transfer Level (RTL): Describes the flow of data between registers, which is common level for synthesis.

·         Gate Level: Describes the circuit using individual logic gates.

Simulation: Verilog code can be simulated to verify the functionality of designed circuit before physical implementation.

Synthesis: Verilog code can be synthesized into a physical implementation, such as ASICs or FPGA, using specialized tools.

Standard: Verilog is standard IEEE standard (IEEE1364).

Comparison with VHDL: While both Verilog VHDLs are HDLs, Verilog is often favored for its more concise syntax and closer resemblance to the c programming language, making it easier for those familiar with C to learn.

Verilog enables Engineers to:

1.       Design: Describe the functionality of digital circuit using a textual language.

2.       Simulate: Test and verify the design’s behavior through simulation before committing to physical hardware.

3.       Synthesis: Translate the design into a format that can be implemented on physical hardware like ASICs or FPGAs.

Advantages of VHDL:

Ø  Concise and C-like Syntax: Verilog syntax is relatively straight forward and resembles C programming language, making it easier to engineers with software background to learn adapt to hardware design.

Ø  Hierarchical Design: Verilog facilitates hierarchical design allowing complex systems to be broken down into smaller, manageable modules.

Ø  Simulation and Synthesis capabilities: Verilog supports both simulation for verifying design functionality and synthesis for translating the design into actual hardware implementations (ASICs or FPGA).

Ø  Support for Multiple Abstraction Levels: Verilog allows designers to describe hardware at various levels of abstraction, including behavioral, register transfer level (RTL), gate level, and switch level.