Lab 5: Example State Machine: Traffic-Light Controller

EEL 3701 
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Revision 
Page 1/2 Lab 5: Example State Machine: Traffic-Light Controller
OBJECTIVES
The objective of this lab is to design and implement a
state machine using a PLD. You will use an ASM to
design a traffic light controller and implement this
state machine on your proto-board using your UF3701 PLD board, switch circuits and LED circuits.
MATERIALS
• Your lab kit (including your NAD/DAD)
• Read the Creating Graphical Components
document on both our Lab and Software/Docs
web pages. Download this document onto your
computer.
SPECIFICATIONS
Design a state machine to control the traffic lights at
an intersection in Gainesville’s midtown, the
intersection of West University Avenue and NW 17th
Street. To reduce the number of LEDs needed in lab,
you only need to control the light outputs for West
University Avenue, not NW 17th Street (Buckman
Drive). The traffic light controller has three activehigh outputs (Red, Yellow, Green), and two
inputs: car waiting at 17th Street [CW(H)] and
emergency vehicle approaching [(EV(L)].
Figure 1. Traffic Light
4 lane West Univ Ave
2 lane
NW 17th street
Traffic
light
2 lane
Buckman Dr
TIMING:
1. The University Avenue green light normally
stays on for six cycles. However, if an emergency
vehicle comes up to the light (while traveling
down the 17th Street), EV will go true and this can
occur during any of the six green cycles. If this
occurs, the light should immediately turn yellow
and stay on for at least one clock cycle (but no
more than two) and then proceed on to step #4.
Otherwise, if EV is not true after the six cycles,
move to step #2.
2. After the University Avenue green light has been
on for six cycles as described in step 1, check if
there is a car waiting (CW is true). If so, then
continue to step #3; else go back up to step #1.
3. Green turns off and Yellow turns on. This
lasts for two clock cycles.
4. Yellow turns off and Red turns on for four
clock cycles.
5. If EV is not true, go back to step #1. Otherwise,
as long as EV remains true, keep the light Red.
A few notes about our traffic lights and traffic light
controller are listed below.
1. There should never be more than one traffic light
on at a time.
2. There should always be a single traffic light on.
3. You can assume that an emergency vehicle will
take at least one clock cycle to approach an
intersection.
PRE-LAB REQUIREMENTS
1. Draw an ASM chart for your controller. Note:
You should never have a situation when two
lights are on at the same time, i.e., Green and
Yellow should never be on at the same time.
• The simplest way to create a multiple clock
delay (e.g., step 1 in the Timing section and
step 4) is to have successive states. This is
precisely what you should do. (An
alternative, NOT recommended here, but
used in EEL 4712: Digital Design, is to
design a counter to count the required number
of states. In EEL 4712, VHDL is used to
design several different types of counters,
making this a relatively simple procedure.)
2. Create a next-state truth table showing the current
state, input, next state, flip-flop inputs and system
outputs (i.e., red, green or yellow) for each state
in your ASM diagram.
3. During previous labs during the semester, you
designed your circuits using logic gates (by
drawing the circuit elements in Quartus). This is
called schematic entry. You could create a
Quartus schematic entry design using D flip-flops
and SSI logic gates (as you have all semester, and
recently, for implementation in the PLD); but you
do NOT need to do this for this lab. (Do this only
if you want to; there will be no credit for doing
this part and this design should NOT be
submitted.) In part 4 you will use VHDL to
replace the combinatorial part (not the flip-flops) 
University of Florida EEL 3701 — Fall 2019 Dr. Eric M. Schwartz
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Revision 1 23-Oct-19
Page 2/2 Lab 5: Example State Machine: Traffic-Light Controller
of your schematic entry design, and this is
required.
Note: Simplification of the equations is helpful,
but not required in this lab. Quartus will simplify
for you! After compiling your design, make a
Quartus equation file by selecting Processing |
Start | Start Equation Writer (Post-Synthesis).
The generated file will have an “.eqn” extension.
Open this file to observe the equations. Some of
the operators in Quartus equation files are as
follows: & = AND, ! = NOT, # = OR, and
$ = XOR (exclusive OR).
• If you want to (NOT required), simulate this
design in Quartus. There will be no credit for
doing this part.
4. Design a solution for this problem using D flipflop(s) for all of the state bits, but this time use a
VHDL program instead of the combinatorial
circuits that drive the flip-flops. The design
should be named Lab5_DFF_Traf_Cont.
Your design will consist of a VHDL and a bdf
file; the bdf file will have an instantiation of the
VHDL design and the required connections to the
flip-flops. (See the Creating graphical
componentsfile on the website for information on
how to incorporate VHDL code in a bdf file.)
Output the state bits (the outputs of the flip-flops)
so that you always know the present state of your
system. Having these state bit outputs available
greatly simplifies the debugging process.
5. Simulate this design in Quartus. As always,
annotate your design simulation.
6. Program your PLD with your
Lab5_DFF_Traf_Cont design. Use your
NAD/DAD for the non-clock inputs and outputs.
Use a debounced switch circuit for your clock
input (as used in previous labs).
Note: You could use your NAD/DAD for your
debounced clock input too, but I want you to get
some more experience building a debounced
switch circuit, so do NOT do this for this lab. I
suggest that you use your PLD and not a 74xxx
chip for your debounce circuit.
Warning: Always tri-state all unused PLD pins,
as described in the Quartus Tutorial.
IN-LAB
Demonstrate your design from Pre-Lab part 4.