Electronic – RAM memory modelling in Verilog

memoryramverilog

I am trying to model a 0.125GB RAM memory in Verilog using ModelSim of width 512 bit using memory chips of width 32 bit. So I have created a
32 * \$\2^{18}\$ memory array whose code is as follows:

    //The 32x2**18 MEMORY CHIP          
      module mini_sub_chip (word_out, word_in, word_addr, cs, we, clk);
        parameter WIDTH = 32,
                  DEPTH = 1 << 18,
                  SEL_BITS = 18;

    //output          
      output reg [WIDTH-1:0] word_out;

    //inputs
      input [WIDTH-1:0] word_in;
      input [SEL_BITS-1:0] word_addr;
      input cs, we, clk;

    //regs
      reg [WIDTH-1:0] schip [0:DEPTH-1];


      always @ (posedge clk)
      begin
       if (cs)
        begin 

         if (we)
          begin
          schip[word_addr] <= word_in;    // write into memory
          word_out <= word_in;
          end

        else
         begin
         word_out <= schip[word_addr];    //read from memory
        end
      end
    end   
  endmodule

I then tried to increase the memory width to 512 by creating 16 instances of the above module in a different module as follows:

     always @ (posedge clk)
     begin
      if (reset)
       count <= 4'b0000;
      else 
       count <= count + 1;
       word_output <= word_out[count] //word_output is the 32 bit output register
     end

     decode_4x16 dcd416 (sel, count);

     generate 
     for (i = 0; i <= 15; i = i + 1)
     begin: loop
     assign chip_sel[i] = cs & sel[i];
     mini_sub_chip mschip (word_out[i], word_in, word_addr, chip_sel[i], we, clk); //Instantiating 16 modules in parallel
     //word_out is 32x16 array, with a different 32 bit array element driven every time 'mini_sub_chip' is instantiated
     end
     endgenerate

At every clock cycle, a 32-bit data is transferred from every instantiated module in a consequtive manner such that it takes 16 clock cycles to complete the 512-bit data transfer.

The first module is working correctly, but the second module is not. Data is being written to and read from memory correctly at every clock cycle, but the 'word_output' register is not getting updated as long as memory write is taking place. So it remains undefined for as long as 'we' is asserted. However, it is getting updated during memory reads. Please guide

Best Answer

Looks like you need to rewrite the memory model to tristate the output port when cs is 0. Since this is not the case, the result is undefined as there are multiple drivers.

Related Solutions

Electronic – Verilog asynchronous reads of regs – and design question

Your code simulates two multiplexers. These are actually asynchronous components. The fact that Verilog requires data1_temp and data2_temp to be declared as reg's is a quirk of Verilog syntax and your choice of coding style, and doesn't mean these signals would be the outputs of storage elements in a physical implementation.

If you want to capture these values in actual registers, you need to add those explicitly:

reg [7:0] data1, data2;
always @(posedge someclock) begin
    data1 <= data1_tmp;
    data2 <= data2_tmp;
end

But I would like to know what this mini register file would be made of in hardware. Particularly, the 4x8 bit array consisting of k0,k1,k2,k3.

You haven't shown how these variables are assigned, so it's not possible to say how they are implemented. As your code showed, just declaring them as reg doesn't guarantee they are implemented with actual storage elements. If you assign them inside a block that begins always @(posedge clk) then very likely they are flip-flops, but there are ways you could code them that would make them synthesize differently.

I thought when it came to registers and arrays like this, you need a clock to read out data, like RAM?

You need a clock to update a (physical) register. You can read it out at any time. For example:

wire [8:0] sum;
assign sum = k0 + k1;

is perfectly valid code. sum will change whenever any of its inputs changes. If k0 and k1 are the outputs of flip-flops, their values will only change when there is a clock edge.

For another example, you could equally well describe your multiplexers with code like this:

reg [7:0] k0, k1, k2, k3;
wire [7:0] data1_tmp;
reg [1:0] reg1;
// k<n> and reg1 are assigned elsewhere.
assign data1_tmp = (reg1 == 0) ? k0 :
                   (reg1 == 1) ? k1 :
                   (reg1 == 2) ? k2 : k3;

how do I read from this tag_array and do the comparison all within the same clock cycle?

Let me repeat a key point for emphasis: You need to use a clock to assign a new value to a register (an actual hardware register or group of flip-flops). It's output is available at any time.

RAMs are different and how you access the contents of a RAM will depend on details of the type of RAM you use.

I got confused because frankly I don't know enough about memory hardware and how that's possible.

Another key strategy: When you are learning digital logic, I recommend you learn about the physical hardware first, and then work out or study how to simulate it in HDL second. So first, learn what a physical flip-flop is, then learn the standard Verilog methods of describing a flip-flop. Especially if you are trying to write HDL for synthesis, trying to write good code before you learn the capabilities of the underlying hardware will lead you down a lot of dead-end paths.

Electronic – Memory modelling and Memory module in Verilog synthesis

I am not sure why you need a special option, the use of memories are pretty standard for use inside modules. Unless you are trying to imply a special low area/power cell similar to a ram.

For a standard memory it is just the same as having multiple regs. memory does not imply RAM the same way reg does not automatically imply flip-flop.

The 'memory.list' is a plain text file which contains the values which you want to load in to the memory, this is not required if you just wanted to reset the memory and have every element at 0.

memory.list should look like :

//Comments are allowed 
1100_1100   // This is first address i.e 8'h00
1010_1010   // This is second address i.e 8'h01
@ 55        // Jump to new address 8'h55
0101_1010   // This is address 8'h55
0110_1001   // This is address 8'h56

The use of the file would then follow :

module  memory();
  reg [7:0] my_memory [0:255];

  initial begin
    $readmemh("memory.list", my_memory);
  end
endmodule

alternatively :

module  memory();
  reg [7:0] my_memory [0:255];
  integer i;

  initial begin
    for( i=0; i<256; i=i+1) //Can be statically unrolled
      my_memory[i] = 8'h00 ;
  end
endmodule

If using as a bank of flip-flops with async-reset:

module  memory(
  input clk,
  input rst_n,
  input [7:0] addr_wr,
  input [7:0] data_wr
);
  reg [7:0] my_memory [0:255];
  integer i;

  always @(posedge clk or negedge rst_n) begin
    if (~rst_n) begin
      for( i=0; i<256; i=i+1) //Can be statically unrolled
        my_memory[i]  <= 8'h00 ;
    end
    else begin
      my_memory[addr_wr] <= data_wr ;
    end
  end
endmodule

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Electronic – Verilog asynchronous reads of regs – and design question

Electronic – Memory modelling and Memory module in Verilog synthesis

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