ALTERA Cyclone III FPGA User Guide

101 Innovation Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
www.altera.com

P25-36228-02

Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit

User Guide

Document Version: 1.2
Document Date: July 2010

© 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. Altera warrants performance of its semiconductor produc ts
to current specifications in accordance with Altera's standard warranty, but reserves the right to make changes to any products and services at any
time without notice. Altera assumes no responsibility or liability arising out of the application or use of any information, product, or service described
herein except as expressly agreed to in writing by Altera. Altera customers are advised to obtain the latest version of device
specifications before relying on any published information and before placing orders for products or services.

Part Number UG-01018-1.2

ii 0 Altera Corporation
Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010

Contents

Chapter 1. Getting Started

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1–1

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 .................................................................................................................................... 2–2

Powering Up the Development Board .......................................................................................... 2–2

Installing the USB-Blaster Driver ........................................................................................................ 2–2

Control Panel Setup ............................................................................................................................... 2–3

Configuring the FPGA Using the Quartus II Programmer ............................................................. 2–3

Chapter 3. Using the Control Panel

Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 3–1

Control Panel Start ................................................................................................................................ 3–1

LEDs and Buttons .................................................................................................................................. 3–2

Illuminating LEDs ............................................................................................................................ 3–2

Buttons Indicators ............................................................................................................................ 3–3

DDR SDRAM/

SSRAM/On-Chip Controller ............................................................................................................... 3–3

Read/Write Data .............................................................................................................................. 3–4

Read from a File ................................................................................................................................ 3–5

Write to a File ................................................................................................................................... 3–5

Flash Memory Programmer ................................................................................................................. 3–5

Flash Memory Tab ........................................................................................................................... 3–6

CFI Query .......................................................................................................................................... 3–6

Read/Write Data .............................................................................................................................. 3–7

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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide

Contents

Chapter 4. Measuring Power on the Cyclone III Starter Board

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4–1

Measuring Power ................................................................................................................................... 4–2

Changing the Example Design ....................................................................................................... 4–3

Appendix A. Programming the Configuration Flash Device

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

iv Altera Corporation
Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide

1. Getting Started

Introduction

Welcome to the Altera® Cyclone®III FPGA Starter Kit, which includes a
full-featured field-programmable gate array (FPGA) development board,
hardware and software development tools, documentation, and
accessories needed to begin 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.

The starter kit provides an integrated control environment that includes
a software controller in a control panel application, a USB command
controller, a multi-port SRAM/DDR SDRAM/flash memory controller,
and example designs specified in Verilog code. You can use this design as
a starting point for test designs.

This user guide addresses the following topics:

■ How to set up, power up, and verify correct operation of the

development board.

■ How to install the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit.

■ How to install the Altera

■ How to set up and use the control panel, a graphical user interface

(GUI), to manipulate components on the board, implement
applications.

■ How to configure the Cyclone III FPGA.

■ How to set up and run example designs.

®

Quartus II Web Edition software.

f For complete details on the development board, refer to the

Cyclone III FPGA Starter Board Reference Manual.

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July 2010 Preliminary

Before You Begin

Before You
Begin

Further Information

Before proceeding, check the contents of the kit:

■ Cyclone III FPGA Starter Development Board

■ 12-V DC power supply

■ USB cable

f For the most up-to-date information on this product, visit the Altera

website at www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-cyc3-

starter.html.

For other related information, refer to the following websites:

For More Information About Refer To

Additional daughter cards
available for purchase

Cyclone III handbook www.altera.com/literature/lit-cyc3.jsp

Cyclone III reference designs http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-

eStore if you want to
purchase devices

Cyclone III Orcad symbols www.altera.com/support/software/download/pcb/

®

Nios

II 32-bit embedded

processor solutions

www.altera.com/products/devkits/
kit-daughter_boards.jsp

cyc3-starter.html

www.altera.com/buy/devices/buy-devices.html

pcbpcb_index.html

www.altera.com/technology/embedded/
emb-index.html

Software Installation

This section describes the following procedures:

■ “Installing the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit”

■ “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:

1. Download the Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit installer from the

Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit page of the Altera website.

Alternatively, you can request a development kit DVD from the

Development Kits, Daughter Cards & Programming Hardware page

of the Altera website.

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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010

Getting Started

<install dir>

documents

board_design_files

The default Windows installation directory is C:\altera\

<version>

\.

examples

factory_recovery

demos

kits

cycloneIII_3c25_start

2. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation
process.

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

Table 1–1 lists the file directory names and a description of their contents.

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Table 1–1. Installed Directory Contents

Directory Name Description of Contents

board_design_files Contains schematic, layout, assembly, and bill of material

board design files. Use these files as a starting point for a
new prototype board design.

demos Contains demonstration projects that may or may not

contain up-to-date source code.

documents Contains the development kit documentation.

examples Contains the example design files for the Cyclone III FPGA

Starter Kit

factory_recovery Contains programming files for returning board to factory

default condition.

Software Installation

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
EDS, and the MegaCore
SOPC Builder) and the Nios II EDS are the primary FPGA development
tools for creating the reference designs in this kit.

To install the Quartus II Web Edition software, follow these steps:

1. Download the Quartus II Web Edition software from the Quartus II

Web Edition Software page of the Altera website. Alternatively, you

can request a DVD from the Altera IP and Software DVD Request

Form page of the Altera website.

2. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation
process.

f If you have difficulty installing the Quartus II software,

refer to Quartus II Installation & Licensing for Windows and

Linux Workstations.

The Quartus II Web Edition software includes the following items:

®

IP Library. The Quartus II software (including

■ Quartus II software—The Quartus II software, including the SOPC

Builder system development tool, provides a comprehensive
environment for system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) design.
The Quartus II software integrates into nearly any design
environment and provides interfaces to industry-standard EDA
tools.

f To compare the Quartus II subscription and web editions,

refer to Altera Quartus II Software

Web Edition. The kit also works with the subscription

edition.

■ MegaCore IP Library—A library that contains Altera IP MegaCore

functions. You can evaluate MegaCore functions with the OpenCore
Plus feature to perform the following tasks:

● Simulate behavior of a MegaCore function in your system

● Verify functionality of your design, and quickly and easily

evaluate its size and speed

● Generate time-limited device programming files for designs that

include MegaCore functions

● Program a device and verify your design in hardware

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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010

—Subscription Edition vs.

Getting Started

1 The OpenCore Plus hardware evaluation feature is an

evaluation tool for prototyping only. You must purchase a
license to use a MegaCore function in production.

f For more information about OpenCore Plus, refer to

AN 320: OpenCore Plus Evaluation of Megafunctions.

■ Nios

®

II Embedded Design Suite (EDS)—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. To purchase a subscription, contact
your Altera sales representative.

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Software Installation

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Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit User Guide July 2010

2. Development Board and

1-Mbyte SSRAM (U5)

DC Power
Input (J2)

Power Switch (SW1)

16-Mbyte
Parallel
Flash (U6)

USB
Connector
(J3)

Flash LED

USB
UART (U8)

JTAG Header (J4)

32-Mbyte
DDR SDRAM (U4)

Reconfigure

and Reset

Push Buttons

50-MHz

System Clock

User LEDs

User Push Button Switches

HSMC
Connector (J1)

Cyclone III Device (U1)

Configuration Done LED

Sense Resistor for FPGA
Core Power Measurement (JP6)

Sense Resistor
for Shared I/O
Power (JP3)

Control Panel Setup

Development

The development board is preloaded with an example design to
demonstrate the Cyclone®III device and board features. At power-up,

Board Setup

the preloaded design also enables you to quickly confirm that the board
is operating correctly.

Figure 2–1 shows the Cyclone III development board layout and

components.

Figure 2–1. Cyclone III Development Board Layout and Components

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