The paper analyses and compares the most widely used textual and graphical languages for formal specification of digital control units. It demonstrates that graphical languages are more adequate for manual specification and usually it is easier to learn them. As a rule, commercially available tools for the design of digitalsystems support different languages.; Este artigo analisa e comp...
This paper discusses the implementation, features and use of the OReK kernel - an object-oriented, fully preemptive real-time kernel implemented in C++. The OReK kernel is pratically platform independent, containing only small and localized code segments that are platform dependent. Currently it can be used in PC's with an Intel x86 compatible processor family with MSDOS, because it needs to configure and acces...
The paper describes original methods and novel tools (namely animated tutorials, projects and organization of data on WebCT) that have been used for teaching disciplines on reconfigurable computing and advanced digital systems. Many examples are provided, which demonstrate how to get access to all the available materials and how these materials help the students to understand many different aspects of hardware ...
The paper presents a technique for the design of dynamically reconfigurable circuits that has been proposed to students within the discipline on reconfigurable computing (computação reconfigurável) for the LECT specialty (Licenciatura em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemática). The technique is based on the use of hardware templates (HT), which are circuits that have been designed for a wide group of similar a...
The paper presents a tutorial, which covers new methods and tools that are used in educational process of Electronics and Telecommunications Department of Aveiro University for the disciplines devoted to the design of reconfigurable systems. Three following basic topics have been considered: 1) FPGAs of state-of-the-art Spartan-II/Spartan-IIE families that possess a number of advantages...
The paper presents a technique for the design of digital circuits that can be employed by students within such disciplines as object-oriented programming, reconfigurable computing, advanced digital systems, etc. The technique is based on the use of a hardware template (HT), which is a circuit that has been designed for a wide group of similar applications, such as special-purpose processors, embedded controller...
This paper discusses the use of object-oriented programming languages in the design of digital systems. The ideas presented here are particularly useful to develop complex systems composed of hardware and software components. The EaSys language described in this paper was developed to allow the use of a single language in the entire design flow. This language is an extension to the C++, implemented through a cl...
The specification method, which is presented in this paper, is used to describe the behavior of a digital control unit. The control algorithms that manage this unit may be hierarchical, parallel and both. In this paper is shown the specification and simulation of hierarchical and parallel control algorithms at the same time. The CAN - Controller Area Network protocol was used as a case study being specified usi...
This paper presents a specification method for describing the behavior of digital control units. It is a formal language that results from an evolution of its predecessor, the HGSs – Hierarchical Graph-Schemes. It is called HiParaGraphs – Hierarchical and Parallel Graphs, and the main objective was to add new facilities, mainly related to parallelism.; Este artigo apresenta um método de especificação utili...
This work is devoted to the specification of control algorithms, their verification, optimisation, conversion to VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) code and real-time debugging. The behaviour of control algorithms is described by HGSs (Hierarchical Graph Schemes), which is a formal graphical specification language similar to flow charts. This method supports hierarchy and parallelism and allows building...