FPGA Implementation of an 8-bit Simple Processor

Abstract

Since its "birth" in 1971, embedded microprocessor has been widely used as a tool for technological innovations and cost reduction. Its speed and programmability are the main characteristics determining its performance. Therefore, for a design to be competitive, its processor has to fit the following characteristics: relatively inexpensive, flexible, adaptable, fast, and reconfigurable. A solution to this is the use of Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) as design tool. This paper describes the realization of an 8-bit FPGA based simple processor. Our system was implemented on the Xilinx Spartan 3 xc3s200FT256 using ISE foundation 8.1 and VHDL. 132 (6%) of the slices, 351 Bels were used. A maximum frequency of 95.364 MHz was reached with a minimum period of 10.486 ns.