RapidPrototypingofDigitalSystemsprovidesanexcitingandchallenginglaboratorycomponentforundergraduatedigitallogicandcomputerdesigncourses.Themoreadvancedtopicsandexercisesalsomakethistextusefulforupperlevelcoursesindigitallogicorprogrammablelogic.DesignengineersworkinginindustrywillwanttoconsiderthistextforarapidintroductiontoPPLDtechnologyandlogicsynthesisusingcommercialCADtools.RapidPrototypingofDigitalSystemsincludestwotutorialsontheAlteraCADtoolenvironment,anoverviewofprogrammablelogic,andadesignlibrarywithseveraleasy-to-useinputandoutputfunctions.Thesefeaturesweredevelopedtohelpstudentsgetstartedquickly.Earlydesignexamplesuseschematiccaptureandlibrarycomponents.VHDLisusedformorecomplexdesignsafterashortintroductiontoVHDL-basedsynthesis.TheapproachusedinthistextreflectscontemporarypracticeinindustrymoreaccuratelythanthemoretraditionalTTLprotoboard-basedlaboratorycourses.DesignscontaininguptotwentythousandgatesarepossiblewiththeAlteraStudentVersionCADtoolsandtheUP1board.RapidPrototypingofDigitalSystemscontainsanumberofinterestingandchallenginglaboratoryprojectsinvolvingserialcommunications,statemachineswithvideooutput,videogamesandgraphics,simplecomputers,keyboardandmouseinterfaces,robotics,andaRISCprocessorcore.TheseprojectswerealldevelopedonthestudentversionoftheAlteraCADtoolsandcanbeimplementedontheAlteraUP1board.
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