FPGA Open Architecture Design for a VGA Driver

Abstract

This work presents an open architecture proposal for a VGA (Video Generic Array) controller to be used into embedded systems based in FPGA. Several developers of hardware design, which use some hardware description language, have a video library to be used with VHDL or Verilog language, but in most of cases, we need to buy an expensive annual license, and can be used only for the manufacturer hardware. This controller is developed using only VHDL based in the IEEE standards, to ensure the portability with any manufacturer, and this is part of the contribution of this work. The controller designed is generic, due that it can be used for any resolution used by a commercial monitor, including the widescreen monitor. The generic controller will be used for image processing research. The work presents two kinds of test: first, we display the eight basics color generated with the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values; second, an image is stored into an external memory RAM (Random Access Memory), and the FPGA reads and display the image into a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) and LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitor.