International Islamic University,

Islamabad
Digital System Design LAB

EXPERIMENT # 04: Behavioral Modeling

Name of Student:

Roll No.:

Date of Experiment:

Report submitted on:

Marks obtained:

Remarks:

Instructor’s Signature:

Digital System Design Lab (EE-319L) Page 27

 Behavioral Modeling
1. Objective
This lab exercise is designed to understand the concepts related to behavioral modeling.

2. Resources Required
• A Computer
• Xilinx ISE
• ModelSim

3. Introduction
HDL (Hardware Description Language) is any language from a class of computer languages,
specification languages, or modeling languages for formal description and design of electronic
circuits, and most-commonly, digital logic. It can describe the circuit's operation, its design and
organization, and tests to verify its operation by means of simulation. The two most popular HDLs
are Verilog and VHDL. Verilog due to its similarity to C language is easier to understand so has
become most widely used HDL in educational institutions.

3.1 HDL Coding

Verilog is both a behavioral and a structural language. Internals of each module can be defined at
four levels of abstraction, depending on the needs of the design. The module behaves identically
with the external environment irrespective of the level of abstraction at which the module is
described. The internals of the module are hidden from the environment. Thus, the level of
abstraction to describe a module can be changed without any change in the environment. The levels
are defined below.

Behavioral or algorithmic level

This is the highest level of abstraction provided by Verilog HDL. A module can be implemented
in terms of the desired design algorithm without concern for the hardware implementation details.
Designing at this level is very similar to C programming.

Dataflow level
At this level, the module is designed by specifying the data flow. The designer is aware of how
data flows between hardware registers and how the data is processed in the design.

Gate level
The module is implemented in terms of logic gates and interconnections between these gates.
Design at this level is similar to describing a design in terms of a gate-level logic diagram.

Switch level
This is the lowest level of abstraction provided by Verilog. A module can be implemented in terms
of switches, storage nodes, and the interconnections between them. Design at this level requires
knowledge of switch-level implementation details.

Verilog allows the designer to mix and match all four levels of abstractions in a design.
Due to increasing complexity of circuits, Switch Level Modeling is becoming rare so we will
not discuss it in these labs.

Digital System Design Lab (EE-319L) Page 28

3.2 Behavioral Modeling
Verilog provides designers the ability to describe design functionality in an algorithmic manner.
In other words, the designer describes the behavior of the circuit. Thus, behavioral modeling
represents the circuit at a very high level of abstraction. Design at this level resembles C
programming more than it resembles digital circuit design. Behavioral Verilog constructs are
similar to C language constructs in many ways. Verilog is rich in behavioral constructs that provide
the designer with a great amount of flexibility.

3.2.1 Structured Procedures

There are two structured procedure statements in Verilog: always and initial. These statements are
the two most basic statements in behavioral modeling. All other behavioral statements can appear
only inside these structured procedure statements.

Verilog is a concurrent programming language unlike the C programming language, which is

sequential in nature. Activity flows in Verilog run in parallel rather than in sequence. Each always
and initial statement represents a separate activity flow in Verilog. Each activity flow starts at
simulation time 0. The statements always and initial cannot be nested. The fundamental difference
between the two statements is explained in the following sections.

a) initial Statement
All statements inside an initial statement constitute an initial block. An initial block starts at time
0, executes exactly once during a simulation, and then does not execute again. If there are multiple
initial blocks, each block starts to execute concurrently at time 0. Each block finishes execution
independently of other blocks. Multiple behavioral statements must be grouped; typically using
the keywords begin and end. If there is only one behavioral statement, grouping is not necessary.
This is similar to the { } grouping in the C programming language.

Example:

initial
m = 1'b0; //single statement; does not need to be grouped

initial
begin
#5 a = 1'b1; //multiple statements; need to be grouped
#25 b = 1'b0;
end

initial
begin
#10 x = 1'b0;
#25 y = 1'b1;
end

initial
#50 $finish;
In the above example, the three initial statements start to execute in parallel at time 0. If a delay
#<delay> is seen before a statement, the statement is executed <delay> time units after the current

Digital System Design Lab (EE-319L) Page 29

simulation time. Thus, the execution sequence of the statements inside the initial blocks will be as
follows.

time statement executed

0 m = 1'b0;
5 a = 1'b1;
10 x = 1'b0;
30 b = 1'b0;
35 y = 1'b1;
50 $finish;

The initial blocks are typically used for initialization, monitoring, waveforms and other processes
that must be executed only once during the entire simulation run.

b) always Statement
All behavioral statements inside an always statement constitute an always block. The always
statement starts at time 0 and executes the statements in the always block continuously in a looping
fashion. This statement is used to model a block of activity that is repeated continuously in a digital
circuit. An example is a clock generator module that toggles the clock signal every half cycle. In
real circuits, the clock generator is active from time 0 to as long as the circuit is powered on.

Example:

//Initialize clock at time zero

initial
clock = 1'b0;

//Toggle clock every half-cycle (time period = 20)

always
#10 clock = ~clock;

initial
#1000 $finish;

In the example, the always statement starts at time 0 and executes the statement clock = ~clock
every 10 time units. Notice that the initialization of clock has to be done inside a separate initial
statement. If we put the initialization of clock inside the always block, clock will be initialized
every time the always is entered. Also, the simulation must be halted inside an initial statement. If
there is no $stop or $finish statement to halt the simulation, the clock generator will run forever.
C programmers might draw an analogy between the always block and an infinite loop. But
hardware designers tend to view it as a continuously repeated activity in a digital circuit starting
from power on. The activity is stopped only by power off ($finish) or by an interrupt ($stop).
3.2.2 Procedural Assignment
Procedural assignments update values of reg, integer, real, or time variables. The value placed on
a variable will remain unchanged until another procedural assignment updates the variable with a
different value. These are unlike continuous assignments discussed in Dataflow Modeling, where
one assignment statement can cause the value of the right-hand-side expression to be continuously

Digital System Design Lab (EE-319L) Page 30

placed onto the left-hand-side net. The syntax for the simplest form of procedural assignment is
shown below.

assignment ::= variable_lvalue = [ delay_or_event_control ] expression

The left-hand side of a procedural assignment <lvalue> can be one of the following:

• A reg, integer, real, or time register variable or a memory element

• A bit select of these variables (e.g., addr[0])
• A part select of these variables (e.g., addr[31:16])
• A concatenation of any of the above

The right-hand side can be any expression that evaluates to a value. In behavioral modeling, all
operators discussed in Dataflow Modeling can be used in behavioral expressions.

3.2.3 Timing Controls

Various behavioral timing control constructs are available in Verilog. In Verilog, if there are no
timing control statements, the simulation time does not advance. Timing controls provide a way
to specify the simulation time at which procedural statements will execute. There are three methods
of timing control:
• delay-based timing control
• event-based timing control
• level-sensitive timing control

a) Delay-Based Timing Control

Delay-based timing control in an expression specifies the time duration between when the
statement is encountered and when it is executed. Delay-based timing control examples can be
seen in the previous sections. There are three types of delay control for procedural assignments:
• regular delay control
• intra-assignment delay control
• zero delay control.

b) Event-Based Timing Control

An event is the change in the value on a register or a net. Events can be utilized to trigger execution
of a statement or a block of statements. There are four types of event-based timing control:
• regular event control
• named event control
• event OR control
• level-sensitive timing control

i) Regular event control

The @ symbol is used to specify an event control. Statements can be executed on changes in signal
value or at a positive or negative transition of the signal value. The keyword posedge is used for a
positive transition, as shown in example.

Example

Digital System Design Lab (EE-319L) Page 31

@(clock) q = d; //q = d is executed whenever signal clock changes value
@(posedge clock) q = d; //q = d is executed whenever signal clock does a
positive transition

ii) Event OR Control

Sometimes a transition on any one of multiple signals or events can trigger the execution of a
statement or a block of statements. This is expressed as an OR of events or signals. The list of
events or signals expressed as an OR is also known as a sensitivity list. The keyword or is used to
specify multiple triggers, as shown in Example.

Example

always @( reset or clock or d)

//Wait for reset or clock or d to change
begin
if (reset) //if reset signal is high, set q to 0
q = 1'b0;
else if(clock) //if clock is high, q = d
q = d;
end

Sensitivity lists can also be specified using the "," (comma) operator instead of the or operator.
Comma operators can also be applied to sensitivity lists that have edge-sensitive triggers. The
above example can be rewritten using the comma operator, the only change would be:

always @( reset, clock, d)

When the number of input variables to a combination logic block are very large, sensitivity lists
can become very cumbersome to write. To solve this problem, Verilog HDL contains two special
symbols: @* and @(*). Both symbols exhibit identical behavior. These special symbols are
sensitive to a change on any signal that may be read by the statement group that follows this
symbol.

//Combination logic block using the or operator

//Cumbersome to write and it is easy to miss one input to the block
always @(a or b or c or d or e)
begin
out1 = a ? b+c : d+e;
end
//Instead of the above method, use @(*) symbol. Alternately, the @* symbol can be used
//All input variables are automatically included in the sensitivity list
always @(*)
begin
out1 = a ? b+c : d+e;
end

Digital System Design Lab (EE-319L) Page 32

c) Level-Sensitive Timing Control
Event control discussed earlier waited for the change of a signal value or the triggering of an event.
The symbol @ provided edge-sensitive control. Verilog also allows level-sensitive timing control,
that is, the ability to wait for a certain condition to be true before a statement or a block of
statements is executed. The keyword wait is used for level-sensitive constructs.

For more detail, see Chapter 7 of Verilog HDL by Samir Palinitkar.

3.2.4 Conditional Statements

Conditional statements are used for making decisions based upon certain conditions. These
conditions are used to decide whether or not a statement should be executed. Keywords if and else
are used for conditional statements. There are three types of conditional statements. Usage of
conditional statements is shown below.

//Type 1 conditional statement. No else statement

//Statement executes or does not execute
if (<expression>) true_statement ;

//Type 2 conditional statement. One else statement

//Either true_statement or false_statement is evaluated
if (<expression>) true_statement ; else false_statement ;

//Type 3 conditional statement. Nested if-else-if

//Choice of multiple statements. Only one is executed.
if (<expression1>) true_statement1 ;
else if (<expression2>) true_statement2 ;
else if (<expression3>) true_statement3 ;
else default_statement ;

The <expression> is evaluated. If it is true (1 or a non-zero value), the true_statement is executed.

However, if it is false (zero) or ambiguous (x), the false_statement is executed. The <expression>
can contain any operators used in dataflow modeling. Each true_statement or false_statement can
be a single statement or a block of multiple statements. A block must be grouped, typically by
using keywords begin and end. A single statement need not be grouped.

3.2.5 Multiway Branching

In type 3 conditional statement in the previous section, there were many alternatives, from which
one was chosen. The nested if-else-if can become unwieldy if there are too many alternatives. A
shortcut to achieve the same result is to use the case statement.
The keywords case, endcase, and default are used in the case statement.

case (expression)
alternative1: statement1;
alternative2: statement2;
alternative3: statement3;
...

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 ...
default: default_statement;
endcase

Each of statement1, statement2 …, default_statement can be a single statement or a block of

multiple statements. A block of multiple statements must be grouped by keywords begin and end.
The expression is compared to the alternatives in the order they are written. For the first alternative
that matches, the corresponding statement or block is executed. If none of the alternatives matches,
the default_statement is executed. The default_statement is optional. Placing of multiple default
statements in one case statement is not allowed. The case statements can be nested. The case
statement can also act like a many-to-one multiplexer

Example: 4-to-1 Multiplexer with Case Statement

module mux4_to_1 (out, i0, i1, i2, i3, s1, s0);

// Port declarations from the I/O diagram

output out;
input i0, i1, i2, i3;
input s1, s0;
reg out;

always @(s1 or s0 or i0 or i1 or i2 or i3)

case ({s1, s0}) //Switch based on concatenation of control signals
2'd0 : out = i0;
2'd1 : out = i1;
2'd2 : out = i2;
2'd3 : out = i3;
default: $display("Invalid control signals");
endcase

endmodule

The case statement compares 0, 1, x, and z values in the expression and the alternative bit for bit.
If the expression and the alternative are of unequal bit width, they are zero filled to match the bit
width of the widest of the expression and the alternative.
4. Verilog Codes (to be utilized in this lab)

4.1 Half Adder

module half_adder(S, C, A, B);

output S, C;
reg S, C; //output must be declared as register in behavioral modeling
input A, B;

//always block makes sure that whenever is a change in A or B, we enter this block
always @ (A or B)
begin

Digital System Design Lab (EE-319L) Page 34

 {C,S} = A+B;
end
endmodule

4.2a Main Module (Full Adder with instantiation)

module full_adder(Sum, CarryOut, A, B, CarryIn);

output Sum, CarryOut;

input A, B, CarryIn;
wire TSum, TCarry1, TCarry2;

//Two half-adders are instantiated. (This is similar to a function call in C)

half_adder ha1(TSum, TCarry1, A, B);
half_adder ha2(Sum, TCarry2, TSum, CarryIn);

//Or gate can be written as this assign statement

assign CarryOut = TCarry1 || TCarry2;

endmodule

//Use any one of the 4.2a or 4.2b codes

4.2b Main Module (Full Adder without instantiation)
module full_adder(Sum, CarryOut, A, B, CarryIn);

output Sum, CarryOut;

reg Sum, CarryOut; //output must be declared as register in behavioral modeling
input A, B, CarryIn;

always @ (A, B, CarryIn)

begin
{CarryOut,Sum} = A+B+CarryIn;
end
endmodule
4.3 Stimulus

module Stimulus;

wire Sum, CarryOut;

reg A, B, CarryIn;

//This time we have instantiated full-adder module as it is the one we are testing

full_adder fa1(Sum, CarryOut, A, B, CarryIn);

//Values checking part

initial
begin
A = 0; B = 0; CarryIn = 0; //Sum = 0, CarryOut = 0
#10 A = 0; B = 0; CarryIn = 1; //Sum = 1, CarryOut = 0
#10 A = 0; B = 1; CarryIn = 0; //Sum = 1, CarryOut = 0

Digital System Design Lab (EE-319L) Page 35

#10 A = 0; B = 1; CarryIn = 1; //Sum = 0, CarryOut = 1
#10 A = 1; B = 0; CarryIn = 0; //Sum = 1, CarryOut = 0
#10 A = 1; B = 0; CarryIn = 1; //Sum = 0, CarryOut = 1
#10 A = 1; B = 1; CarryIn = 0; //Sum = 0, CarryOut = 1
#10 A = 1; B = 1; CarryIn = 1; //Sum = 1, CarryOut = 1
#10 $stop;
#10 $finish;
end
endmodule

5. Lab Task
Implement an 8X3 (Octal to Binary) encoder in Verilog using Behavioral modeling. Also
simulate your design for verification (Create a proper Stimulus or Test Bench file).

Hint: Use if-else or case statements. Set D with 8 bit size ([7:0]). It is clear from above table that
when D=8’b00000001 then x=0,y=0,z=0; i.e. we can write

if (D==8’d1) begin x=0; y=0; z=0; end

Using similar approach, write the code for remaining cases.

6. Home Work

Implement a 4X2 priority encoder using behavioral modeling. Simulate in either ModelSim
or Xilinx ISE. Submit the code and wave files in the next lab.

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Hint: A priority encoder is an encoder circuit that includes the priority function. The operation of
the priority encoder is such that if two or more inputs are equal to 1 at the same time, the input
having the highest priority will take precedence. V is valid bit indicator that is set to 1 when one or
more inputs are equal to 1. If all inputs are 0, there is no valid bit and V is equal to 0.

Note:
a) This assignment must be submitted before the next lab.
b) The assignment submitted must be in proper format as instructed by the teacher to get
maximum marks.
c) Marks will be deducted on late submissions.
d) Cheating or using any unfair means will award ZERO marks.

Digital System Design Lab (EE-319L) Page 37

 International Islamic University, Islamabad
Digital System Design Lab

LAB WORKSHEET (Lab # 4)

Q.1 What is Behavioral modeling and why we use it?

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Q.2 What is the difference between always and initial blocks?

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Q.3 Write the code for implementing 4X1 Mux using behavioral modeling.
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Q.4 Draw the logic diagram of 4-input Priority Encoder.

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Digital System Design Lab (EE-319L)