Altera Cyclone III FPGA User Manual
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Altera Cyclone III FPGA User Manual

Starter kit
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101 Innovation Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
www.altera.com
P25-36228-03
Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit
User Guide
Document Version:
Document Date:
1.2
July 2010

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Summary of Contents for Altera Cyclone III FPGA

  • Page 1 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide 101 Innovation Drive San Jose, CA 95134 www.altera.com Document Version: Document Date: July 2010 P25-36228-03...
  • Page 2 © 2010 Altera Corporation. All rights reserved. ALTERA, ARRIA, CYCLONE, HARDCOPY, MAX, MEGACORE, NIOS, QUARTUS and STRATIX are Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. and/or trademarks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective holders as described at www.altera.com/common/legal.html.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Before You Begin ........................... 1–2 Further Information ..........................1–2 Software Installation ..........................1–2 Installing the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit .................. 1–2 Installing the Quartus II Web Edition Software ................1–4 Chapter 2. Development Board and Control Panel Setup Development Board Setup ........................2–1 Requirements ............................
  • Page 4 Overview ..............................A–1 Creating a Flash-Programmable POF File ..................A–1 Programming the Flash Device ......................A–5 Additional Information Revision History ..........................Info–i How to Contact Altera ........................Info–ii Typographic Conventions ......................Info–ii Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide...

  • Page 5: Chapter 1. Getting Started

    FPGA development. The development board includes an Altera Cyclone III FPGA and comes preconfigured with a hardware reference design stored in flash memory. You can use the development board as a platform to prototype a variety of FPGA designs.

  • Page 6: Before You Begin

    “Installing the Quartus II Web Edition Software” on page 1–4 Installing the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit The license-free Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit installer includes all the documentation and design examples for the kit. To install the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit, follow these steps:...
  • Page 7 The installation program creates the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit directory structure shown in Figure 1–1. Figure 1–1. Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit Default Installed Directory Structure <install dir> The default Windows installation directory is C:\altera\ <version> \. kits cycloneIII_3c25_start...

  • Page 8: Installing The Quartus Ii Web Edition Software

    Installing the Quartus II Web Edition Software The Quartus II Web Edition software provides the necessary tools for developing hardware and software for Altera FPGAs. Included in the Quartus II Web Edition software are the Quartus II software, the Nios II ®...
  • Page 9 A full-featured tool set that ® allows you to develop embedded software for the Nios II processor which you can include in your Altera FPGA designs. Licensing Considerations The Quartus II Web Edition software is license-free and supports Cyclone III devices without any additional licensing requirement. This kit also works with the Quartus II Subscription Edition software, after you obtain the proper license file.
  • Page 10 Software Installation 1–6 Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010...

  • Page 11: Chapter 2. Development Board And Control Panel Setup

    Connector (J3) Flash LED Cyclone III Device (U1) Configuration Done LED UART (U8) Reconfigure User Push Button Switches and Reset JTAG Header (J4) Push Buttons User LEDs 32-Mbyte DDR SDRAM (U4) 50-MHz System Clock Altera Corporation 2–1 July 2010 Preliminary...

  • Page 12: Requirements

    Installation instructions for the USB-Blaster driver are available on the Altera website at www.altera.com/support/software/drivers/ dri-index.html. On the “Altera Programming Cable Driver Information” page of the Altera website, locate the table entry for your configuration and click the link to access the instructions. 2–2 Altera Corporation...

  • Page 13: Control Panel Setup

    JTAG chain are Programmer running. To configure the Cyclone III FPGA, follow these steps: Start the Quartus II Programmer. Click Add File and select the path to the desired .sof.
  • Page 14 Configuring the FPGA Using the Quartus II Programmer 2–4 Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010...

  • Page 15: Chapter 3. Using The Control Panel

    ■ The standard Nios II hardware design running on the board's Cyclone III FPGA device After installing the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit, you can locate the control panel for the hardware and software in the <kit path>\demos\control_panel directory. The design downloaded to the Cyclone III device implements a command controller that processes board commands sent over the USB-Blaster from the control panel.

  • Page 16: Leds And Buttons

    The LED & Buttons tab should be visible when the application runs. If it is not visible, click the LED & Buttons tab (Figure 3–2). Click on LEDs to individually turn on the LEDs. 3–2 Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010...

  • Page 17: Buttons Indicators

    Write entire contents of a file, to the DDR SDRAM, SSRAM, or on-chip device ■ Read contents of the DDR SDRAM, SSRAM, or on-chip device, to a file Altera Corporation 3–3 July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide...

  • Page 18: Read/Write Data

    Figure 3–3. Control Panel DDR SDRAM Tab To write a 32-bit word to the DDR SDRAM, click the desired location, enter the desired value in hex format, and press Enter. 3–4 Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010...

  • Page 19: Read From A File

    Write a binary file to flash memory ■ Load the contents of the flash memory into a file Do not exit from the control panel while erasing the flash memory. Altera Corporation 3–5 July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide...

  • Page 20: Flash Memory Tab

    Notice that the memory table displays contents that correlate with the table contents as described in the device datasheet. To put the flash device back in user mode, press Reset on the control panel. 3–6 Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010...

  • Page 21: Read/Write Data

    To write a 32-bit word to the flash memory, click the desired location, enter the desired value in hex format, and press Enter. Altera Corporation 3–7 July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide...
  • Page 22 Flash Memory Programmer 3–8 Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010...

  • Page 23: Chapter 4. Measuring Power On The Cyclone Iii Starter Board

    Tables 4–2 4–3 describe how the LEDs indicate the example design’s current power state. Table 4–2. LEDs Power State (Frequency) LEDs Clock Frequency Displays State (MHz) Frequency LED2 LED1 Altera Corporation Core Version a.b.c variable 4–1 July 2010 Preliminary...

  • Page 24: Measuring Power

    JP6 measures the core power. The resistor at location JP3 measures the I/O power. To measure the current being used in various configurations, use the following steps: 4–2 Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010...

  • Page 25: Changing The Example Design

    The appropriate pins to be used as outputs are pre-assigned to the HSMC connector (J1). If you would like to look at more than the 76 I/Os available on J1, you need to make the appropriate pin assignments. Altera Corporation 4–3 July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide...
  • Page 26 Measuring Power 4–4 Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010...

  • Page 27: Appendix A. Programming The Configuration Flash Device

    Programmable POF File Choose Convert Programming File from the File menu. The Convert Programming Files window opens (refer to Figure A–1). Figure A–1. Convert Programming Files Window Altera Corporation A–1 July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide...
  • Page 28 Select and type the following settings as shown in Figure A–3: Pages: 0 ● Address mode for selected pages: Start ● Start address (32-bit hexadecimal): 0x020000 ● A–2 Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010...
  • Page 29 The flash address 0x20000 is the default starting address from which the Cyclone III device starts loading configuration data. Click OK. Figure A–4 shows the updated Convert Programming Files window. Altera Corporation A–3 July 2010 Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide...
  • Page 30 The Quartus II software also generates a MAP file, which can help you debug issues with locations in the flash device. A–4 Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010...

  • Page 31: Programming The Flash Device

    Programming Altera recommends that you do not overwrite the factory hardware and factory software images unless you are an expert with the Altera tools or the Flash Device deliberately overwriting the factory design. If you unintentionally overwrite the factory image, perform these flash programming instructions using the cycloneIII_3c25_start_niosII_standard.pof found...
  • Page 32 12. To configure the Cyclone III 3C25 with your design from the on-board flash device, either push the reconfiguration button or turn the Cyclone III Starter Board off and then on again. A–6 Altera Corporation Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010...

  • Page 33: Additional Information

    Figure 1–1 on page 1–3. Updated “Installing the Quartus II Web Edition Software” on ● page 1–4. ● Updated “Installing the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit” on page 1–2. ● Updated “Further Information” on page 1–2. ● Updated Copyright information. March 2010 1.1.0...

  • Page 34: How To Contact Altera

    Non-technical support (General) Email nacomp@altera.com (Software Licensing) Email authorization@altera.com Note to Table: (1) You can also contact your local Altera sales office or sales representative. Typographic This document uses the typographic conventions shown below. Conventions Visual Cue Meaning Bold Type with Initial...
  • Page 35 A warning calls attention to a condition or possible situation that can cause injury to the user. The angled arrow indicates you should press the Enter key. The feet direct you to more information on a particular topic. Altera Corporation Info–iii Preliminary...
  • Page 36 Typographic Conventions Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide Info–iv Altera Corporation Preliminary...

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