An Introduction to Verilog: Transitioning from VHDL

1. An Introduction to Verilog: Transitioning from VHDL Tutorial 1

2. Lesson Plan (Tentative) • Week 1: Transitioning from VHDL to Verilog, Introduction to Cryptography • Week 2: A5 Cipher Implementaion, Transitioning from Verilog to Verilog-A • Week 3: Verilog-A Mixer Analysis

3. Purpose of HDL Languages • Simplify design so you can concentrate on the overall picture • HDL allows description in language rather than schematic, speeding up development time • Allows reuse of components (standard cells ie libraries)

4. VHDL/Verilog Differences • Verilog modelled after C, VHDL is modelled after Ada • VHDL is more strongly typed (ie it checks the typing more rigorously) • Verilog is case sensitive while VHDL is not • This means that VHDL has a higher learning curve than Verilog, but with proficiency, offers more flexibility. • Verilog used extensively in the US while VHDL is used internationally

5. Verilog Types • wire, wire[msb:lsb] (single/multiple bit wire) • reg, reg[msb:lsb] (single/multiple bit register) • integer (integer type, 32 bits) • time (unsigned 64 bit) • real (floating point double) • string

6. Operators Arithmetic: • Binary +, -, *, /, % (mod) • Unary +, - (sign) Relational • Binary <, >, <=, >=

7. Operators (con’t) Equivalence Operators • === (equivalence including x and z), ==, !== (again including x and z), != Bit-wise Operators • ~ (not), & (and), | (or), ^ (xor), ~^, ^~ (xnor)

8. Operators (con’t) • Shift Operators <<, >> • Cocatenation {a, b, c} • Replication {n{m}} (m n times) • Conditional cond_exp ? True_exp : false_exp

9. Built in gates • Can be used without having to build • and, nand, or, nor, xor, xnor (n-input gates), used as:and (out, in1, in2, in3, …) • buf, bufif1, bufif0, not, notif1, notif0 (transmission gates/tristates)

10. No equivalent of architecture keyword in Verilog (all is treated as one architecture) VHDL: entity myentity is port ( a, b : in std_logic; c : out std_logic); end myentity; Architecture implementation of myentity --do stuff end implementation; Verilog: module myentity (a, b, c); input a, b; output c; wire a, b, c; //do stuff endmodule Entity Instantiation

11. Component Instantiation • Verilog doesn’t require explicit instantiation VHDL: component DFF port( d : in std_logic; q : out std_logic); end component; MyDff : DFF Port map (foo, bar); --implicit Port map (d => foo, q => bar);--explicit Verilog: dff u0 (foo, bar); //implicit dff u0 (.foo(d), .bar(q)); //explicit

12. Combinational Assignment • Note that gate level primitives in Verilog can be a function or bitwise symbol VHDL: a <= b; a <= b AND c; a <= b + c; Verilog: a <= b; //parallel assignment and(a, b, c); //a is output a <= b & c; //same as line above {carry, sum} <= b + c; //carry is //optional

13. Flow Logic (I): Case • Differentiation in VHDL for select statements and conditional assignment; none in Verilog VHDL: With std_logic_vector’(A) select Q <= “1” when “0” <= “0” when “1” <= “0” when others; • VHDL can also use case statements similar to Verilog Verilog: case (A) 0 : Q <= 1; 1 : Q <= 0; default : Q <= 0; endcase

14. Flow Logic (II): If/Then/Else • Equivalence operators similar to C in Verilog VHDL: Q <= ‘1’ when A = ‘1’ else ‘0’ when B = ‘1’ else ‘0’; Verilog: if (A == 1) begin Q <= 1; end else if (B == 1) begin Q <= 0; end else begin Q <= 0; end

15. Combinational Processes VHDL: process (a) begin b <= a; end process; Verilog: always @ (a) begin b <= a; end

16. Sequential Logic • Example: D Flip Flop: (note edge triggering is in always statement in Verilog) VHDL: process(clk) begin if rising_edge(clk) q <= d; end if; End process; Verilog: always @ (posedge clk) begin q <= d; end

17. Test Benches • Useful for simulation and verification • Keyword “initial begin .. end” starts a testbench • Remember “always begin .. end” • #delay is used to delay by delay ‘time units’ • $display(“Random text”) displays Random text • `timescale sets the ‘time unit’ unit

18. Test Benches • $monitor (“Clk %b, Reg %d”, clk, reg) displays clock and register variables as binary and decimal respectively • #delay $finish runs the testbench for delay ‘time units’

19. //Asynchronous Reset 4-bit //Counter module counter (clk, reset, enable, count); input clk, reset, enable; wire clk, reset, enable; output count; reg[3:0] count; always @ (reset) //change to //posedge clk for sync reset begin if (reset == 1) begin count <= 0; end end always @ (posedge clk) begin if (enable == 1) begin count <= count + 1; end end endmodule 4-bit Counter Code

20. Example: `timescale 1ns/1ns module counter_tb; reg clk, reset, enable; wire [3:0] count; counter U0 ( .clk (clk), .reset (reset), .enable (enable), .count (count) ); initial begin clk = 0; reset = 0; enable = 0; end always #5 clk = !clk; //flip clock every 5 ns initial begin  $dumpfile ( "counter.vcd" ); $dumpvars; end initial begin $display( "\t\ttime,\tclk,\treset,\tenable,\tcount" ); $monitor( "%d,\t%b,\t%b,\t%b,\t%d" ,$time, clk,reset,enable,count); end initial #100 $finish; //ends after 100 ns endmodule Testbench for Counter

21. Tutorial 1 Part 2 Introduction to Cryptography

22. Cryptography is Everywhere • Internet (online banking, e-commerce sites) • Cell phones (GSM and CDMA) • Other wireless devices (PDAs and laptops with wireless cards) • RFIDs, sensors

23. Why Hardware Design is important in Cryptography • Many cryptographic applications are hardware-based (cell phones, RFID, wireless router technology, electronic key dongles) • Importance of hardware design knowledge to efficiently implement applications in cryptography

24. Scenario O A B A wants to communicate with B, however O can listen in on the conversation. How to prevent this?

25. Types of Cryptographic Ciphers • A cipher is a way of making messages unreadable • Two main categories: public key and private/symmetric key • Public key uses different keys for encryption and decryption (which means not having to exchange keys in person), but is computationally expensive • Symmetric key uses the same key for encryption and decryption, but is relatively cheap in terms of computation power

26. Types of Cryptographic Ciphers • Examples of Public Key Cryptography: RSA, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) • Examples of Symmetric Key Cryptography: RC4 (used in WEP), A5 (used in GSM), DES and Triple-DES (used in banking applications)

27. Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSRs) • Used in many stream ciphers (a subset of symmetric key ciphers that outputs 1 bit at a time; they’re quick, but less secure than block ciphers) • Consists of a chain of D Flip Flops and a set of XORs that feed later bits back into the beginning

28. Example

29. Practical Example of a cipher: A5 • Used in GSM communications as an encryption scheme • Consists of 3 LFSRs combined to produce a single stream of bits • Details were kept secret; people reverse-engineered the cipher to produce the structure • There have been many attacks since it was reverse engineered and is now considered broken

30. Diagram of A5-1

31. Summary • Cryptography is used in many everyday applications • Hardware knowledge important to implement efficient ciphers • LFSRs important to implement stream ciphers • A5-1 (GSM) an application of LFSRs