Digital Design Using Digilent FPGA Boards: VHDL / Vivado Edition
This book assumes no previous knowledge of digital design. You start at the beginning learning about basic gates, logic equations, Boolean algebra, and Karnaugh maps. In over 75 examples we show you how to design digital circuits using VHDL and simulate and synthesize them using Xilinx's free development environment, Vivado HL WebPACK. You can synthesize the designs to a Xilinx Spartan3E FPGA on either the BASYS™ system board that can be purchased from Digilent, Inc (www.digilentinc.com) or any of the Nexys boards. More recently, Digilent offers the Nexys4 board with an Artix-7 FPGA. We have prepared 112 short video clips that cover all of the material in this book and they are available free on YouTube. To find these, go to www.youtube.com/user/LBEbooks/playlists and click on Digital Design VHDL. To synthesize your designs to a Xilinx FPGA you will need to download the Vivado WebPACK from Xilinx, Inc. (www.xilinx.com). You can use Adept 2.1 to download your bit files to either the BASYS2, Nexys2, or Nexys3 boards. The Nexys4 board uses iMPACT to configure the FPGA which is included with Vivado WebPACK. All references to the BASYS board in this book apply to the BASYS2 board. All of the user constraints (.ucf) and Xilinx Design Constraints (.xdc) files for each board can be downloaded from http://www.lbebooks.com/downloads.htm.
Why Read This Book
You will learn digital logic from the ground up and immediately apply it to real FPGA hardware: the book walks you from gates and Karnaugh maps to VHDL coding, simulation, synthesis, and deploying designs to Digilent Xilinx boards using Vivado. Its large set of step-by-step examples and 112 complementary videos make it an ideal hands‑on path to gain practical FPGA skills quickly.
Who Will Benefit
Novice engineers, students, or hobbyists who want a practical, project-driven introduction to VHDL and Xilinx FPGA development using Digilent BASYS/Nexys/Artix boards.
Level: Beginner — Prerequisites: None — suitable for complete beginners; basic high‑school algebra and familiarity with a PC for running Vivado are helpful.
Key Takeaways
- Write, simulate, and debug VHDL code for combinational and sequential circuits using Vivado.
- Synthesize VHDL designs and create constraint (XDC) files to map logic to Digilent Xilinx FPGA boards.
- Design and implement finite state machines, counters, arithmetic circuits, and common I/O peripherals (LEDs, switches, seven‑segment, VGA, UART).
- Use simulation and testbenches effectively to verify functional correctness before hardware programming.
- Deploy designs to real boards (BASYS/Nexys/Artix‑7/Spartan‑3E) and perform basic timing checks and board bring‑up.
- Follow lab‑style examples and video walkthroughs to build confidence with Vivado’s flow and debugging tools.
Topics Covered
- Introduction to Digital Logic: Gates, Boolean Algebra, and Karnaugh Maps
- Basics of VHDL: Entities, Architectures, Data Types, and Operators
- Combinational Circuit Design in VHDL: Multiplexers, Decoders, Adders
- Sequential Circuits: Flip‑Flops, Registers, Counters, and Timing
- Testbenches and Simulation: Writing Stimulus and Using Vivado Simulator
- Synthesis and the Vivado Flow: Constraints, XDC Files, and RTL Implementation
- Working with Digilent FPGA Boards: BASYS, Nexys, Spartan‑3E, and Artix‑7
- Finite State Machines and Control Logic
- Arithmetic and ALU Design; Basic DSP Primitives
- Memory, FIFOs, and Simple Bus Interfaces
- I/O Projects: Seven‑Segment Displays, VGA, UART and External Peripherals
- Lab Projects: From Small Examples to Complete Board‑Level Demonstrations
- Troubleshooting, Timing Analysis, and Best Practices
- Appendices: VHDL Reference, Vivado Tips, and Video Resource Index
Languages, Platforms & Tools
How It Compares
Similar in spirit to Pong P. Chu’s "FPGA Prototyping by VHDL Examples" but more tightly integrated with Digilent board labs and accompanied by a large set of short instructional videos; compared to Harris & Harris's texts, this book is more hands‑on with Vivado and FPGA implementation rather than computer architecture theory.
