On Monday, I was almost done with the design code for my first module, a 7 colour auto flash LED. I chose this module to start with as it is quite simple to program (only outputs), in the hopes that I can finish it quick. However, what seem simplest is still quite hard for me as my skills in interpreting schematic to be turned into codes are still weak. I definitely will not be able to design it without the help of Dr. Shawn schematic drawing of the design. I was writing the test bench when Dr. Shawn came to correct the design I had made. There were quite a lot of mistakes in the design. Dr. Shawn was quite busy helping another intern for his internship presentation with his lecturer. Besides having his own work and a wedding to prepare, I was lucky to have Dr. Shawn to correct my codes. I know I would ponder on it for days later when my test bench fails for the faulty design I made.
Dr. Shawn reminded to make use of the tools used in designing as it would help reduce human errors apart from saving more time and effort. After all, working hard is good but working smart and efficient is undoubtedly better. I am still trying to get use of the Verilog Auto’s in Emacs. I wrote the test bench and was verifying the signals manually. The waveform worked as it should, failed, also when it should, but only one acknowledge Wishbone signal that I was unsure of. I continued to design the code for the LED to be tested on the Spartan 6 FPGA board. When I was finished, I was eager to test it but it got me down when it did not light up.
I was on it for quite some time, edited my design only to make it worse. I thought I already did everything right so I checked whether the LED was functioning well or not. The LED was fine, not damaged at all as it lighted brightly when tested. By the end of the week, I was still trying to figure out what was wrong. I went through the codes again and again and realized I did not press the input Reset button when testing the LED. I am still having difficulty understanding the operation but finally, the LED LIGHTED UP and shines so brightly while I enjoyed looking it worked. Well, hope I will not waste any more time with such small careless mistakes in the future modules to design.
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