Design of UART in VHDL

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I have also updated and released the latest version of UART IP Core: UART Controller v1.1 with more features. Please find it here. UPDATED: June-30-2021. The below article is now outdated as it is the older version: UART v1.0, which lacked significant features like parity configuration. So kindly follow my latest blog. Thanks!!

UART stands for Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter. It is the most popular and simplest serial communication protocol.In this instructable, you will learn how to design a UART module in VHDL.

Step 1: What Is UART ?

To communicate with various peripherals, the processors or controllers usually use UART communication. It is a simple and fast serial communication. Since UART is a minimum requirement in almost all processors , they are usually designed as Soft IP cores in VHDL or Verilog for re-usability and ease of integration.

Step 2: Specifications

The specifications of the designed UART are given below :

* Standard UART signals.

* Configurable baud rate from 600-115200.

* Sampling = 8x @receiver

* FPGA proven design - on Xilinx Artix 7 board.

* Tested on UART peripherals, Hyperterminal successfully - all baudrates

Step 3: Design Approach

1. We will be designing 3 modules, which we will integrate later on to complete the UART.
   • Transmitter Module: Takes care of serial data transmissions
   • Receiver Module: Takes care of serial data receptions
   • Baud generator Module: Takes care of baud clock generation.
2. Baud generator module is dynamically configurable. It generates two baud clocks from main clock, according to the desired speed. One for transmitter, other for receiver.
3. Receiver module uses an sampling rate of 8x to minimise the probability of error in reception, ie., receiver baud clock is 8x transmitter baud clock.
4. Control signals to control transmission and reception, as well as interrupt signal.
5. Standard UART serial interface with no parity bit, one stop and start bit, 8 data bits.
6. A parallel interface to communicate with host ie., a processor or controller, who feeds and receives parallel data to and from UART.

Step 4: Simulation Results

Step 5: Attached Files

* UART transmitter module -vhd file

* UART receiver module - vhd file

* Baud generator module - vhd file

* UART module - The main top module integrating the above modules - vhd file

* Full documentation of the UART IP Core - pdf

For any queries, feel free to contact me:

Mitu Raj

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