Electronic circuit and system design using python and VHDL

In electronic system design, there is typically a need to develop and simulate descriptions of the design in a suitable language prior to any physical prototyping and production. Common design flows use one or more languages to achieve this. More recently, the use of source-to-source compilers to translate a high-level design description from one language to another has become a requirement and this approach can be seen in applications such as hardware system design using the field programmable gate array (FPGA). In this paper, the role of the Python open-source programming language is considered and the translation of Python based algorithms to hardware descriptions in VHDL is discussed. The paper will discuss the modeling, simulation and translation of design descriptions that are to be implemented within the FPGA targeting sensor input and digital signal processing requirements.