Special counters for sale

Analyzing custom counter designs in SystemVerilog

This is a hard digital design question that tests your ability to read and reason about sequential logic in SystemVerilog. It requires you to trace through state transitions, understand how feedback logic shapes counter behaviour, and count the actual cycle length—skills essential for synthesis, timing analysis, and verification roles at hardware-focused firms.

To solve problems like this, you need to identify the state-update equations, simulate or hand-trace a few cycles to detect the repeating pattern, and verify that you've found the true period. The counter may not follow a standard binary or Gray-code sequence; the synthesis and static timing analysis (STA) implications depend on understanding exactly which states are reachable and in what order.

• State machine design and transition logic
• Feedback paths and combinational loops
• Cycle detection and sequence length
• Timing constraints across state transitions