Let's prepare and load the project from the Quartus II development environment into the Altera FPGA.
Necessary
- FPGA from Altera;
- USB-Blaster programmer;
- computer with Quartis II development environment.
Instructions
Step 1
In the Assignements -> Device … menu, select the FPGA into which you are going to "fill" the project. In the Device Family group, you need to select the family to which your FPGA belongs. Select your FPGA model in the Available devices field.
In the Show in "Available devices" list group, you can sort devices by package type (Package) or by number of pins () to quickly find your FPGA model.
It will be useful to set the state of the unconnected FPGA legs. Click the Device and Pin Options … button, go to the step, and specify the status of the pins.
After specifying the FPGA model, close the Device window by clicking the OK button.
Step 2
If you want the synthesizer to assign functions to the pins by itself, then you do not have to do anything else. And in order to manually assign FPGA pins, go to the Assignements -> Pin Planner menu or press the Ctrl + Shift + N key combination.
The pin assignment tool starts. Below is a list of the I / O pins used in your project with the corresponding names.
Now in the Location column you need to set the pin numbers. Double click on the corresponding cell and select the pin number or enter the number from the keyboard. The pin numbers will depend on your breadboard.
After all pins have been defined, the pin planner window can be closed. Now compile the project: Processing -> Start Compilation or Ctrl + L.
Step 3
Let's connect the programmer to the computer. The first time you connect, you need to install the driver. It is installed in the standard way, and is located in the Quartus directory, in the drivers folder: C: / altera / 13.0sp1 / quartus / drivers.
After installing the driver, the programmer will be displayed in the device manager as Altera USB-Blaster.
Step 4
Altera FPGAs support several programming modes. First, let's look at downloading the firmware via the JTAG interface. Connect the programmer to the JTAG connector on the FPGA board.
Let's start the programming tool: Tools -> Programmer.
Let's add a programmer. To do this, press the Hardware Setup … button and select the connected one in the drop-down list. Let's close the window.
In the Programmer window, click the Auto Detect button to make Quartus try to automatically detect the connected FPGA and the *.sof firmware file. The firmware file is created by Quartus by default during compilation, unless otherwise specified.
In the Programmer window, select the JTAG mode, check the Program / Configure checkbox and click the Start button. The firmware will be written to the FPGA memory.
Step 5
With this type of recording, the firmware is written into the volatile memory of the FPGA, and after a reboot it will be erased. To save the firmware in ROM, write the firmware in Active Serial mode.
Connect the programming cable to the AS connector or. Run the firmware program: Tools -> Programmer. Select Mode -> Active Serial. Agree when answering a clarifying question.
Add the firmware file by clicking the Add File … button. In the output_files project subdirectory, find the file with the.pof extension. After opening the firmware file, set the Program / Configure checkboxes and, if desired, steel ones. Pay attention to the type of configuration memory in the Device column: it must match the memory type of your FPGA.
Step 6
Click the Start button to download the firmware to the FPGA.
