This master’s thesis deal’s with VHDL programming language, ISE Webpack design system and PicoBlaze microprocessor. The thesis describes essentials of VHDL programming language and its application. A simple introduction to ISE Webpack design environment is given. The thesis describes common peripherals and the PicoBlaze processor is described too, including its parameters and implementation aspects. Finally the thesis describes IP generator for generating complex FPGA design including Picoblaze processor.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the possibility of integrating an AC3 audio de- coding module into the company’s current product. Due to limited left resources on the FPGA chip in the company’s current product, the focus of this thesis is to be resource efficient. In this thesis, a system for AC3 audio decoding is designed and implemented. In order to use less logic on FPGA, PicoBlaze soft processor is used to control the whole processing flow. The system is designed and synthe- sized for a Spartan-6 FPGA which can be easily ported to the company’s current platform.

This thesis deals with the design and implementation of a simulator of PicoBlaze microcontroller. The aim of this thesis is to create a graphical simulator of this microcontroller in Eclipse as an extension of the existing integrated development environment VLAM IDE. The thesis describes in detail the simulator uCsim which was chosen for implementation of PicoBlaze simulator core and introduces its improvements for a better support of automatized testing. The thesis also presents a description of desing and implementation of the graphical simulator in Eclipse which uses the created simulator core and discusses possible improvements of the implemented core and graphical simulator.

Σχεδόν όλα τα σύγχρονα τηλεπικοινωνιακά συστήματα, τα οποία προορίζονται για μεταφορά ή αποθήκευση δεδομένων, έχουν υιοθετήσει κώδικες διόρθωσης λαθών για την αύξηση της αξιοπιστίας και τη μείωση της απαιτούμενης ισχύος εκπομπής. Μία αρκετά συχνά χρησιμοποιούμενη επιλογή είναι οι κώδικες Reed Solomon που έχουν την υψηλότερη δυνατή ελάχιστη απόσταση μεταξύ των κωδικών λέξεων για δεδομένη διορθωτική ικανότητα. Στην εργασία αυτή μελετήθηκαν οι ιδιότητες των κωδίκων αυτών, έγινε ανάλυση των διαφόρων αλγορίθμων αποκωδικοποίησης και ο σχεδιασμός σε FPGA των λειτουργιών κωδικοποίησης και αποκωδικοποίησης. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, έγινε εκτενής χρήση του συνθέσιμου μικρελεγκτή της Xilinx, του Picoblaze για τα δύο συστήματα που αφορούν τον κώδικα RS (255,239), υιοθετώντας μια παράλληλη αρχιτεκτονική για τον αποκωδικοποιητή, έχοντας ως στόχο μια οικονομική ως προς τους χρησιμοποιούμενους πόρους υλοποίηση. Η αρχιτεκτονική αυτή τροποποιήθηκε με σκοπό την επίτευξη υψηλότερης ταχύτητας λειτουργίας, αυξάνοντας το χρησιμοποιούμενο hardware. Ο σχεδιασμός υλοποιήθηκε σε ένα Virtex4 της Xilinx, χρησιμοποιώντας εργαλεία της Xilinx και διαπιστώθηκε η ορθή του λειτουργία χρησιμοποιώντας αντίστοιχα bit-accurate μοντέλα που αναπτύχθηκαν σε Matlab. / -

A compiler allows us to describe an algorithm in a high-level programming language with a higher level of abstraction and readability than a low-level machine code. This work describes design of the compiler back-end of subset of language C for 8-bit soft-core microcontroller Xilinx PicoBlaze-3. Design is described from the initial selection of a suitable framework to the implementation itself. One of the main reasons of this work is that there is not any suitable compiler for this processor.

<p>The use of microcontrollers and FPGAs is getting more and more wide spread in electronic designs. A recent developmenthas been to implement microcontrollers onboard the FPGA, there are a lot of benefits but also disadvantages with this. Often the microcontroler requires a lot of resources in the expensive FPGA. This is where PicoBlaze, a microcontroller provided by Xilinx, fits in. It is designed with one main object, keep it as small and powerful as possible. </p><p>In this report PicoBlaze is evaluated and documented. Two implementations have been done. One smaller to show how to use PicoBlaze and one larger implementation of an Ethernet network interface. The function of the implementations have been verified on a experiment board utilizing a Virtex-II FPGA. </p><p>The conclusion is that PicoBlaze is a very powerful microcontroller in comparison to the resources it uses on the FPGA. It uses only a little more than 80 slices on a Virtex II FPGA. This is its main advantage, the disadvantages of PicoBlaze is its limited program memory and the limited address space.</p>

The use of microcontrollers and FPGAs is getting more and more wide spread in electronic designs. A recent developmenthas been to implement microcontrollers onboard the FPGA, there are a lot of benefits but also disadvantages with this. Often the microcontroler requires a lot of resources in the expensive FPGA. This is where PicoBlaze, a microcontroller provided by Xilinx, fits in. It is designed with one main object, keep it as small and powerful as possible. In this report PicoBlaze is evaluated and documented. Two implementations have been done. One smaller to show how to use PicoBlaze and one larger implementation of an Ethernet network interface. The function of the implementations have been verified on a experiment board utilizing a Virtex-II FPGA. The conclusion is that PicoBlaze is a very powerful microcontroller in comparison to the resources it uses on the FPGA. It uses only a little more than 80 slices on a Virtex II FPGA. This is its main advantage, the disadvantages of PicoBlaze is its limited program memory and the limited address space.

The main part of the digital application is its user interface. Users can check the status of the programme or change its state. There are many ways to obtain a suitable interface. During the design stage the simplest interface is chosen that provides the necessary functions. In most cases the interface contains a display. This diploma thesis deals with the design of an extension board to plug in a display to a programmable device, a control algorithm for the display and the design of a simple display interface. There are two ways to design software. The first of them is achieved by the processor PicoBlaze, which contains all the required functions. The second solution is by the state machine written in VHDL language. Both solutions can be used in the same way, but the latter solution is quicker and requires less hardware resources.

Aim of this Diploma thesis was to create a device capable of receiving navigational data from GPS. These data are subsequently stored in fixed memory and after connection with the PC are displayed it on the satellite map. The device was realized by using FPGA and GPS module LEA-5s. Description was created in the VHDL language, which was implemented into the circuit. The part of VHDL design was description of PICOBLAZE processor that controls whole system. For displaying and archiving data stored in device was created PC application GPS TRACER. It is able to display stored trace on the satellite map by using Google maps server. For created device were designed and manufactured PCBs, which were manually fitted.

This thesis deals with designing and realisation of a bus analyzer. The analyzer is programmed into Spartan-3AN XC3S50AN programmable logic device. The design includes a SRAM parallel memory and a graphical LCD display. Data output is realized through USB, microSD memory card and VGA. The thesis also describes the use of a software microprocessor PicoBlaze for the control of the LCD display and user interface. The last part deals with a test application using an 8-bit microcontroller connected to an alphanumeric display and a discussion over the results.