In the last post I shared a Digital Clock VHDL code with you along with its testbench. Even though it was synthesizable, it would have been a bit cumbersome to test it on a FPGA board as it was. Because the timer outputs were of unsigned type, you would need to use LED's or something like that to see the time. But who would want a LED digital clock!?
Many FPGA boards have 7 segment displays in them. And this post is to take advantage of such boards. We will take the initial steps to display the time on 7 segment displays. Of course the codes here would need some additional modifications, based on the type of 7 segment displays available on the board and if they share a common bus etc.. But as I mentioned, this is just an initial step.
Without further ado, let me share the codes with you. I have commented the codes plus have uploaded an YouTube video explaining the code. If its useful to you in some way please like and comment on the video. As this helps me with the future direction this blog/YouTube channel will take.
Digital Clock: digital_clock.vhd
You can get it from my last post: Digital Clock VHDL code
Binary to BCD Converter: bin2bcd.vhd
--Library declaration library IEEE; use IEEE.STD_LOGIC_1164.ALL; use IEEE.NUMERIC_STD.ALL; --Binary to BCD Converter entity bin2bcd is port( binary_in : in unsigned(5 downto 0); bcd_out : out unsigned(7 downto 0) --8 bits(4 bits each for 2 digits) ); end bin2bcd; architecture Behavioral of bin2bcd is --actual value=0.0001100110011001101, so divide by 2^19. constant one_by_ten : unsigned(15 downto 0) := "1100110011001101"; signal result_div_by_ten : unsigned(21 downto 0); signal msb_digit : unsigned(3 downto 0); begin --divide the input by 10. In VHDL, division by a constant is --easily done by multiplication by its inverse. result_div_by_ten <= binary_in*one_by_ten; --get the decimal part of the result. Bits 18:0 are fractional part msb_digit <= '0' & result_div_by_ten(21 downto 19); bcd_out(7 downto 4) <= msb_digit; --assign it to MSB part of output --subtract the product, 10*msb_digit, from the input binary number to get LSB digit. bcd_out(3 downto 0) <= to_unsigned(to_integer(binary_in) - to_integer(msb_digit)*10, 4); end Behavioral;
Top Module: digital_clock_topmodule.vhd
--Libraries library IEEE; use IEEE.STD_LOGIC_1164.ALL; use IEEE.NUMERIC_STD.ALL; --Top module which instantiates and connect together the 3 components: --Digital clock, Binary to BCD converter, BCD to 7 segment code converter entity digital_clock_topmodule is --frequency of the clock passed as a generic parameter. generic( CLOCK_FREQ : integer := 50000000 ); port( Clock : in std_logic; --system clock reset : in std_logic; --resets the time inc_secs : in std_logic; --set a pulse here to increment the seconds by 1. inc_mins : in std_logic; --set a pulse here to increment the minutes by 1. inc_hrs : in std_logic; --set a pulse here to increment the hours by 1. secs_7seg1 :out unsigned(6 downto 0); --seconds LSB digit secs_7seg10 :out unsigned(6 downto 0); --seconds MSB digit mins_7seg1 :out unsigned(6 downto 0); --minutes LSB digit mins_7seg10 :out unsigned(6 downto 0); --minutes MSB digit hrs_7seg1 :out unsigned(6 downto 0); --hours LSB digit hrs_7seg10 :out unsigned(6 downto 0) --hours MSB digit ); end digital_clock_topmodule; architecture Behavioral of digital_clock_topmodule is --Digital clock component COMPONENT digital_clock GENERIC( CLOCK_FREQ : integer := 50000000); PORT( Clock : IN std_logic; reset : IN std_logic; inc_secs : IN std_logic; inc_mins : IN std_logic; inc_hrs : IN std_logic; seconds : OUT unsigned(5 downto 0); minutes : OUT unsigned(5 downto 0); hours : OUT unsigned(4 downto 0) ); END COMPONENT; --Binary to BCD converter component COMPONENT bin2bcd is PORT( binary_in : in unsigned(5 downto 0); bcd_out : out unsigned(7 downto 0) ); END COMPONENT; --Function to convert a BCD digit into a 7 segment code --Source: https://vhdlguru.blogspot.com/2010/03/vhdl-code-for-bcd-to-7-segment-display.html --The function is created by converting the code from the above link. function bcd2seg7(bcd_in : unsigned(3 downto 0)) return unsigned is variable segment7 : unsigned(6 downto 0); begin case bcd_in is when "0000"=> segment7 :="0000001"; -- '0' when "0001"=> segment7 :="1001111"; -- '1' when "0010"=> segment7 :="0010010"; -- '2' when "0011"=> segment7 :="0000110"; -- '3' when "0100"=> segment7 :="1001100"; -- '4' when "0101"=> segment7 :="0100100"; -- '5' when "0110"=> segment7 :="0100000"; -- '6' when "0111"=> segment7 :="0001111"; -- '7' when "1000"=> segment7 :="0000000"; -- '8' when "1001"=> segment7 :="0000100"; -- '9' --nothing is displayed when a number more than 9 is given as input. when others=> segment7 :="1111111"; end case; return segment7; end bcd2seg7; --Declare internal signals signal seconds : unsigned(5 downto 0); signal minutes : unsigned(5 downto 0); signal hours : unsigned(4 downto 0); signal bcd_secs,bcd_mins,bcd_hrs : unsigned(7 downto 0); signal hours_extended : unsigned(5 downto 0); begin -- Instantiate the Digital Clock component uut: digital_clock GENERIC MAP(CLOCK_FREQ => CLOCK_FREQ) PORT MAP ( Clock => Clock, reset => reset, inc_secs => inc_secs, inc_mins => inc_mins, inc_hrs => inc_hrs, seconds => seconds, minutes => minutes, hours => hours ); --convert binary to BCD for seconds bin2bcd_secs : bin2bcd port map( binary_in => seconds, bcd_out => bcd_secs ); --convert binary to BCD for minutes bin2bcd_mins : bin2bcd port map( binary_in => minutes, bcd_out => bcd_mins ); hours_extended <= '0' & hours; --just make it the same size as seconds and minutes. --convert binary to BCD for hours bin2bcd_hrs : bin2bcd port map( binary_in => hours_extended, bcd_out => bcd_hrs ); --Call the bcd2seg7 function to convert each BCD digit into a
--format which can be used on the 7 segment display secs_7seg1 <= bcd2seg7(bcd_secs(3 downto 0)); secs_7seg10 <= bcd2seg7(bcd_secs(7 downto 4)); mins_7seg1 <= bcd2seg7(bcd_mins(3 downto 0)); mins_7seg10 <= bcd2seg7(bcd_mins(7 downto 4)); hrs_7seg1 <= bcd2seg7(bcd_hrs(3 downto 0)); hrs_7seg10 <= bcd2seg7(bcd_hrs(7 downto 4)); end Behavioral;
Testbench for the top module: tb_digitalClock_topModule.vhd
LIBRARY ieee; USE ieee.std_logic_1164.ALL; USE ieee.numeric_std.ALL; --the below library is used for finishing the simulation after we are done.
--Otherwise it will run continously. library std; use std.env.finish; ENTITY tb_digitalClock_topModule IS END tb_digitalClock_topModule; ARCHITECTURE behavior OF tb_digitalClock_topModule IS -- Component Declaration for the Unit Under Test (UUT) COMPONENT digital_clock_topmodule is --frequency of the clock passed as a generic parameter. generic( CLOCK_FREQ : integer := 50000000 ); port( Clock : in std_logic; --system clock reset : in std_logic; --resets the time inc_secs : in std_logic; --set a pulse here to increment the seconds by 1. inc_mins : in std_logic; --set a pulse here to increment the minutes by 1. inc_hrs : in std_logic; --set a pulse here to increment the hours by 1. secs_7seg1 :out unsigned(6 downto 0); --seconds LSB digit secs_7seg10 :out unsigned(6 downto 0); --seconds MSB digit mins_7seg1 :out unsigned(6 downto 0); --minutes LSB digit mins_7seg10 :out unsigned(6 downto 0); --minutes MSB digit hrs_7seg1 :out unsigned(6 downto 0); --hours LSB digit hrs_7seg10 :out unsigned(6 downto 0) --hours MSB digit ); end COMPONENT; --Inputs signal Clock : std_logic := '0'; signal reset : std_logic := '0'; signal inc_secs : std_logic := '0'; signal inc_mins : std_logic := '0'; signal inc_hrs : std_logic := '0'; --Outputs signal secs_7seg1,secs_7seg10 : unsigned(6 downto 0);
signal mins_7seg1,mins_7seg10 : unsigned(6 downto 0);
signal hrs_7seg1,hrs_7seg10 : unsigned(6 downto 0);
-- Clock period definitions constant Clock_period : time := 10 ns; --Clock frequency in Hz. Use a smaller value for testbench.
--When testing on board it need to be set as 50 million, 100 million etc. constant CLOCK_FREQ : integer := 10; BEGIN -- Instantiate the Unit Under Test (UUT) uut: digital_clock_topmodule GENERIC MAP(CLOCK_FREQ => CLOCK_FREQ) PORT MAP ( Clock => Clock, reset => reset, inc_secs => inc_secs, inc_mins => inc_mins, inc_hrs => inc_hrs, secs_7seg1 => secs_7seg1, secs_7seg10 => secs_7seg10, mins_7seg1 => mins_7seg1, mins_7seg10 => mins_7seg10, hrs_7seg1 => hrs_7seg1, hrs_7seg10 => hrs_7seg10 ); -- Clock process definitions Clock_process :process begin Clock <= '0'; wait for Clock_period/2; Clock <= '1'; wait for Clock_period/2; end process; -- Stimulus process stim_proc: process begin reset <= '1'; -- hold reset state for 100 ns. wait for 100 ns; reset <= '0'; wait for Clock_period*CLOCK_FREQ*60*60*25; --run the clock for 25 hours --increment seconds inc_secs <= '1'; wait for Clock_period; inc_secs <= '0';
wait for Clock_period*CLOCK_FREQ*5; --wait for 5 secs after incrementing seconds once. --increment seconds 60 times inc_secs <= '1'; wait for Clock_period*60; inc_secs <= '0';
wait for Clock_period*CLOCK_FREQ*5; --wait for 5 secs after incrementing seconds. --increment minutes inc_mins <= '1'; wait for Clock_period; inc_mins <= '0';
wait for Clock_period*CLOCK_FREQ*5; --wait for 5 mins after incrementing minutes once. --increment minutes 60 times inc_mins <= '1'; wait for Clock_period*60; inc_mins <= '0';
wait for Clock_period*CLOCK_FREQ*5; --wait for 5 mins after incrementing minutes. --increment hours inc_hrs <= '1'; wait for Clock_period; inc_hrs <= '0';
wait for Clock_period*CLOCK_FREQ*5; --wait for 5 hours after incrementing hours once. --increment hours 25 times inc_hrs <= '1'; wait for Clock_period*25; inc_hrs <= '0';
wait for Clock_period*CLOCK_FREQ*5; --wait for 5 hours after incrementing hours. --apply reset reset <= '1'; --wait for 100 Clock cycles and then finish the simulation. --with the current settings it will run around 9 ms of simualtion time. wait for Clock_period*100; finish; end process; END;
Top Level Block Diagrams:
The code was synthesized in Xilinx ISE 14.7. And the top level block diagram is shown below:
The inside view of the top module looks like this:
