Forum Discussion

Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
17 years ago

Demultiplexer with latched value

I am using a demultiplexer with six output registers. The code is pretty simple. 

 process(X,sel)
  begin
  case sel is
   when "000"=> 
    A <=X; 
   when "001" => 
    B <=X; 
   when "010" =>
    C <=X; 
   when "011" =>
    D <= X;
   when "100" =>
    E <= X;
   when "101" =>
    F <= X;
   when others =>null;
end case;
end process;

I do not reset output regisers since I want to preserve them. That is why I get the following warnings.

--- Quote Start ---

Warning (10631): VHDL Process Statement warning at demux.vhd(21): inferring latch(es) for signal or variable "C", which holds its previous value in one or more paths through the process

--- Quote End ---

--- Quote Start ---

Warning: Found 9 node(s) in clock paths which may be acting as ripple and/or gated clocks -- node(s) analyzed as buffer(s) resulting in clock skew

--- Quote End ---

Why is wrong to have latched output registers?

What do I need to do to remove them?

5 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    17 years ago

    Yeah, you have used the first approach.

    --- Quote Start ---

    Instead, a decoder providing clock-enable signals is preferred.

    --- Quote End ---

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    17 years ago

    parrado wrote:

    --- Quote Start ---

    your VHDL code must assign every signal in order to avoid parasite latches

    --- Quote End ---

    It does not have to. As I wrote , I needed to retain the values on each itteration of next register being sent to output.

    that is why , i could not issue statements such as 

    B<=(others=>'0');

    It would reset tha value of corresponding output pins to zero, which I don't want.

    Thanks
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    17 years ago

    In fact, demultiplexers aren't often used. Instead, a decoder providing clock-enable signals is preferred.

    Nevertheless, your VHDL code must assign every signal in order to avoid parasite latches. 

    
process(X,sel)
  begin
  case sel is
   when "000"=> 
    A<=X; 
    B<=(others=>'0');
    C<=(others=>'0');
    D<=(others=>'0');
    E<=(others=>'0');
    F<=(others=>'0');
   when "001" => 
    A<=(others=>'0');
    B<=X;     
    C<=(others=>'0');
    D<=(others=>'0');
    E<=(others=>'0');
    F<=(others=>'0');
   when "010" =>
    A<=(others=>'0');
    B<=(others=>'0');
    C<=X;         
    D<=(others=>'0');
    E<=(others=>'0');
    F<=(others=>'0');
   when "011" =>
    A<=(others=>'0');
    B<=(others=>'0');
    C<=(others=>'0');
    D<=X;             
    E<=(others=>'0');
    F<=(others=>'0');
   when "100" =>
    A<=(others=>'0');
    B<=(others=>'0');
    C<=(others=>'0');
    D<=(others=>'0');
    E<=X;                 
    F<=(others=>'0');
   when "101" =>
    A<=(others=>'0');
    B<=(others=>'0');
    C<=(others=>'0');
    D<=(others=>'0');    
    E<=(others=>'0');
    F<=X;                 
end case;
end process;
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    17 years ago

    Thanks Uk Fixer. I found a solution added a clock to sensitivity list.