A FIFO (first in first out) buffer allows for temporary storage for transmission of data between subsystems. It is a very common construct used in digital systems, but why do we need them?

As an example, let’s say that we have a keyboard subsystem that, when a key is pressed, sends corresponding ASCII data to a UART subsystem, which then serially passes the data on to a receiving PC. Assuming that data is directly relayed between the keyboard and UART subsystems, there is risk of data corruption if another key is pressed before the last  key’s ASCII data has been processed by the UART subsystem. This condition is known as data overrun, and can be avoided by inserting a data buffer such as a FIFO between the keyboard and UART subsystems. If the baud rate for a UART is high enough, then the likelihood of data overrun occurring is limited by how fast a user can mash the keyboard’s keys (which for the previous implementation was unlikely). Regardless, it is a good idea to provide data buffers between subsystems that are not instantaneous in their processing of sent and received data.

In this post I will briefly detail how to implement a FIFO buffer in Verilog HDL using the Block RAM on a Xilinx Spartan 3 FPGA. The implementation will allow us to specify the number of words (pieces of data) in the FIFO as well as word width (number of bits per word). We will be able to read from and write to the FIFO, assuming it isn’t in an empty or full state, which we will keep track of and signal out from the FIFO to make the utilizing subsystem aware.

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