HDL structure: In the concurrent section of a hardware description, which elements are interconnected to form the design's structural netlist?

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: components

Explanation:


Introduction / Context:
Hardware description languages separate structural connectivity from sequential/behavioral processes. The concurrent region expresses what is wired to what, producing a network that synthesizes into gates and interconnect.


Given Data / Assumptions:

  • We consider structural HDL style (e.g., component instantiation and port mapping).
  • Concurrent statements are order-independent and represent parallel hardware.
  • Goal: identify what is being interconnected.


Concept / Approach:
Structural code instantiates components and interconnects them with signals. Components may represent submodules such as adders, decoders, registers, and multiplexers. Functions/macros are behavioral abstractions used inside components; “circuits” is a general term, but the precise HDL units wired together are component instances.


Step-by-Step Solution:

Declare components and their ports.Instantiate components and map ports to signals.Connect component outputs to inputs of other components via concurrent assignments.Synthesize the structural netlist based on these interconnections.


Verification / Alternative check:
Tool elaboration reports list instantiated components and the signals linking them, confirming that the concurrent section describes component-level wiring.


Why Other Options Are Wrong:

  • Functions/macrofunctions: Behavioral constructs not directly “wired” like components.
  • Circuits: Informal term; HDL connects component instances to realize circuits.


Common Pitfalls:
Assuming process order matters in concurrent code; confusing function calls inside processes with component interconnections.


Final Answer:
components

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