1. ECE 448: Lab 4
VGA Display
Mini-Pacman Game

2. Flexibility in the Second Part of the Semester
Schedule A:
Lab 4: VGA display (2 weeks) – 8 points
Lab 5: SW/HW Codesign (2 weeks) – 8 points
Lab 6: Logic Analyzer (in class) – 2 bonus points
Lab 7: HLS vs. RTL (2 weeks) – 8 points
Total: points
Schedule B:
Lab 4: VGA display (3 weeks) – 8 points
Lab 5: SW/HW Codesign (3 weeks) – 8 points
Lab 6: Logic Analyzer (in class) – 2 bonus points
Total: points

3. Flexibility in the Second Part of the Semester
Schedule A+:
Intended for students who do exceptionally well in the first part of the semester ( ≥ 90% of points for Labs 1-3)
An open-ended project proposed by students, the TAs, or the instructor
Can be done individually or in groups of two students
Schedule: Detailed Specification (1 week)
Milestone (2 weeks)
Milestone (2 weeks)
Final Report & Deliverable (1 week)
Total: 25 points

4. Expected Project Tasks
Schedule A+:
Use of at least one complex input/output device
VGA display
Keyboard or Mouse (USB-HID)
Ethernet, etc.
Use of on-chip embedded resources: BRAMs, DSP units or
External on-board memory
Soft microcontroller core (e.g. MicroBlaze)
3. (bonus) Use of PMOD Accessory Boards
implementing additional functions,
e.g., A/D, D/A, motor drivers, sensors, cameras.

5. Lab 4 Exercises

6. Reading P. Chu, FPGA Prototyping by VHDL Examples
Chapter 20, Introduction to the Video System
Digilent Basys 3 FPGA Board Reference Manual
VGA Port, pages 10-14
ECE 448 – FPGA and ASIC Design with VHDL

7. Lab 4 Exercise 1 Displaying synchronization signals on the oscilloscope7

8. Lab 4 Exercise 1: Tasks
Develop a testbench for the circuit, described in the figure on the previous slide.
Perform functional simulation, displaying ALL ports of vga_sync component.
Synthesize and implement the top-level circuit using provided XDC file
Perform timing simulation, displaying ALL ports of vga_sync component.
Perform experimental testing using oscilloscope, displaying clk, hsync, vsync. 8

9. Lab 4 Exercise 2 Resolution: 640x480
Display: 8 colors (3 bits), 16 colors (4 bits),
64 colors (6 bits), 256 colors (8 bits), colors (10 bits), 4096 colors (12 bits)
Refresh Rate: 25Hz, 30Hz, 60Hz (frames / second) 9

10. Interface

11. Use of switches

12. Configuration : 1

13. Configuration : 2

14. Configuration : 3

15. Configuration : 4

16. Configuration : 5

17. Configuration : 6

18. Configuration : 7

19. Configuration : 8

20. Specification of coordinates of three objects
assuming sw(4)=0

21. Specification of colors of three objects

22. Specification of dimensions of the ball

23. Introduction to Lab 4

24. Game Characters and Maze24

25. Task 1: Displaying the maze (Points: 25%)
Maze Color: Blue
Color Generator: Selects colors for the background and maze
VGA Controller: Sync generator 25 25

26. Task 2: Displaying Diamonds in four corners (Points:10%)
Diamond Color: Magenta
The diamonds should be stationary objects placed in four corners shown above. 26

27. Task 3: Display and create movement of character “Inky” (Points: 15%)
Inky should move in the direction shown above 27 27

28. Task 4: Display and create movement of character “Shadow” (Points:15%)
Shadow should move in the direction shown above
Shadow and Inky should not collide with each other. 28

29. Task 5: Introduce “Pacman” (Points:25%)
Use four push buttons (BTNU for Up, BTND for Down, BTNL for Left and BTNR for Right movement) to control Pacman’s movement.
Pacman should keep moving in one direction until any other button is pressed.
The goal of the Pacman is to get all four Diamonds without collision with any of the Ghost characters. 29

30. Task 5 : Displaying score and number of lives left on VGA display (Points: 10%)
Display the score and number of lives on VGA display.
Each Diamond carries 200 points.
Whenever Pacman eats any of the Diamonds, the count on the VGA display should increment and display the total score.
Pacman should have three lives initially. Every collision with Shadow or Inky should result in loss of one life. The count of remaining lives should also be updated on the VGA display . After three such collisions, the game will be over.
When Pacman eats all four diamonds, this event should pause the game, and YOU WON should be displayed on the VGA display. 30 30