Design and Implementation of a Graphical VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) User Interface

摘要

This thesis effort outlines the design and implementation of a Graphical VHDL User Interface (GVUI). Though the GVUI is designed as a integral component of the UNIX based Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) VHDL Environment (AVE), it is a stand alone tool that operates under MS-DOS on an IBM PC-XT personal computer. The goal of the GVUI is to automatically generate VHDL source code from a graphic schematic diagram. To meet this goal, two phases of development were identified. Phase I primarily addresses the schematic generation and editing capabilities of the system. Phase II shall focus on the system's automatic code generation capabilities. This thesis specifically addresses and completes the first of these two phases. This research paper is organized in the following manner. A brief introduction of VHDL and current VHDL programming environments is presented as background information. The GVUI development is then tracked from its requirements analysis and system design, through detailed design, and on through functional testing. In conclusion, recommendations for future enhancements are provided. A comprehensive user's guide is included as an appendix. Theses. (fr)