1)Architecturedesign.Thisstageinvolvesanalysisoftheproject
requirements,problemdecompositionandfunctionalsimulation(if
applicable).Theoutputofthisstageisadocumentwhichdescribesthe
futuredevicearchitecture,structuralblocks,theirfunctionsandinterfaces.
2)HDLdesignentry.Thedeviceisdescribedinaformalhardware
descriptionlanguage(HDL).ThemostcommonHDLsareVHDLand
Verilog.
3)Testenvironmentdesign.Thisstageinvolveswritingoftest
environmentsandbehavioralmodels(whenapplicable).Theyarelater
usedtoensurethattheHDLdescriptionofadeviceiscorrect.
4)Behavioralsimulation.ThisisanimportantstagethatchecksHDL
correctnessbycomparingoutputsoftheHDLmodelandthebehavioral
model(beingputinthesameconditions).
5)Synthesis.ThisstageinvolvesconversionofanHDLdescriptiontoa
socallednetlistwhichisbasicallyaformallywrittendigitalcircuit
schematic.Synthesisisperformedbyaspecialsoftwarecalled
synthesizer.ForanHDLcodethatiscorrectlywrittenandsimulated,
synthesisshouldn'tbeanyproblem.However,synthesiscanrevealsome
problemsandpotentialerrorsthatcan'tbefoundusingbehavioral
simulation,so,anFPGAengineershouldpayattentiontowarningsproducedbythesynthesizer.
6)Implementation.Asynthesizergeneratednetlistismappedontoparticulardevice'sinternalstructure.Themain
phaseoftheimplementationstageisplaceandrouteorlayout,whichallocatesFPGAresources(suchaslogic
cellsandconnectionwires).Thentheseconfigurationdataarewrittentoaspecialfilebyaprogramcalledbitstream
generator.
7)Timinganalysis.Duringthetiminganalysisspecialsoftwarecheckswhethertheimplementeddesignsatisfies
timingconstraints(suchasclockfrequency)specifiedbytheuser.
Readmore:http://www.fpgacentral.com/docs/fpgatutorial/fpgadesignflowoverview#ixzz2XoZeTUxI
1)Registeratxilinxwebsitehttp://www.xilinx.com
2)Downloadaversionthatsupportsyouroperatingsystem:
http://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.html/content/xilinx/en/downloadNav/designtools.ht
ml
3)Obtainalicence,itwillbesenttoyouremail
https://xilinx.entitlenow.com/AcrossUser/main.gsp?licenseType=&product=&tab=CreateLicense&
4)Followthedocumentdownloadedwiththetooltoinstallaccordingtoyouroperatingsystem.
5)DuringinstallationselecttoinstallISE:webpack(becauseitlicenceisfree)
6)whenaskedforthelicence,pointtoyourdownloadedlicencefile
7)Settheenvironmentalvariables:thisisbestexplainedinthisdocument:
http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx13_1/iil.pdf
Moreillustrativedocument(FollowtheEE101studentspath):
http://wwwclasses.usc.edu/engr/ees/201/Spring2012/ISE/ISE_13.2_Installation_steps_USC.pdf