DESD/README.md

Digital Electronic System Design

Politecnico di Milano (2024-2025)

📖 Overview

Welcome to the Digital Electronic System Design Laboratory repository!
This repository contains VHDL projects and exercises from the course Digital Electronic System Design at Politecnico di Milano (Course Code: 054083).

The course focuses on:

• FPGA-based digital design
• VHDL simulation, synthesis, and implementation

🛠️ Tools & Hardware

• Software:
  • Xilinx Vivado 2020.2 (WebPack Edition)
• Hardware:
  • Digilent Basys 3
    • FPGA: Xilinx Artix-7 (XC7A35T-1CPG236C)

🎯 Course Goals

• Develop practical skills for FPGA-based digital system design
• Implement and test VHDL architectures using Vivado and Basys 3
• Learn about FPGA timing, power, I/O, and memory management

📂 Repository Structure

• LABx/
  • src/: VHDL source files
  • sim/: Simulation files
  • cons/: Constraint files
  • vivado/: Vivado project files
  • test/: Test files and programs

🚀 Getting Started

Clone the Repository

To get started with this project, follow these steps:

1. Open a terminal (e.g., Command Prompt or PowerShell) on your Windows machine.
2. Clone the repository using Git:

   git clone https://github.com/Cd16d/DESD
   

   This will create a folder named DESD.
3. Open the folder \DESD in Visual Studio Code.

Warning

The folder structure in the repository may not match the Vivado project structure.
If you encounter issues with missing or mismatched files in Vivado, refer to the Replacing Files in Vivado section to update the project with the correct files.

Install VHDL Extension

To work with VHDL files in Visual Studio Code, install the VHDL LS extension:

1. Open Visual Studio Code.
2. Go to the Extensions view by clicking on the Extensions icon in the Activity Bar on the side of the window or pressing Ctrl+Shift+X.
3. Search for VHDL LS in the Extensions Marketplace.
4. Click Install on the extension by Henrik Bohlin.
5. Restart Visual Studio Code to activate the extension.

Open Projects in Vivado

To open and work with the Vivado projects included in this repository:

1. Launch Xilinx Vivado 2020.2.
2. Click on Open Project in the Vivado start screen.
3. Navigate to the desired project directory (e.g., LABx/vivado/project_folder/) and select the .xpr file.
4. Once the project is loaded, you can explore the design, run simulations, or synthesize the project.

Replacing Files in Vivado

If the folder structure in the repository does not match the Vivado project structure:

1. Open the Vivado project as described above.
2. In the Sources tab, right-click on the file you want to replace and select Replace File.
3. Navigate to the correct file in the repository (e.g., LABx/src/) and select it.
4. Ensure the file is added to the correct hierarchy (e.g., as a design source or constraint file).
5. Save the project and re-run synthesis or simulation as needed.

By following these steps, you can ensure that the Vivado project is correctly configured and up-to-date with the repository files.

📬 Contact

For any questions or issues open an issue in this repository.