Altera Stratix III User Manual

Stratix III Development Kit

User Guide

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

P25-36210-01

Document Version: 1.1 Document Date: August 2008

Copyright © 2008 Altera Corporation. All rights reserved. Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, the stylized Altera logo, specific device designations, and all other words and logos that are identified as trademarks and/or service marks are, unless noted otherwise, the trademarks and service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other product or service names are the property of their respective holders. Altera products are protected under numerous U.S. and foreign patents and pending applications, maskwork rights, and copyrights. Altera warrants performance of its semiconductor products 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 Corporation. 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

UG-01028-1.1

Chapter 1. About This Kit

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

Kit Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–1

Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–2

Chapter 2. Getting Started

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–1

Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–1

Check the Kit Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–1

Inspect the Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–2

Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3

Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3

Chapter 3. Software Installation

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–1

Installing the Development Kit CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–1

Installing the Quartus II DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–2

Installing the USB-Blaster Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–3

Licensing Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–3

Chapter 4. Development Board Setup

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

Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–1

Powering Up the Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–1

Configuring the FPGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–3

Chapter 5. Power Measurement

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–1

Power Design Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–1

Measuring Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–3

A/D Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–3

Measuring Core Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–3

Measuring I/O Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–3

Measuring Voltage with a DMM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–4

Calculating Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–4

Changing the Design Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–5

Chapter 6. Design Tutorials

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–1

My First FPGA Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–1

My First Nios II Software Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–1

Appendix A. Programming the Flash Device

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A–1

Creating a Flash File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A–1

Parallel Flash Loader Instantiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A–3

Programming the Flash Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A–3

Preliminary

iv Contents

Restoring the Factory Design to the Flash Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A–5

Additional Information

Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Info–1

How to Contact Altera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Info–1

Typographic Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Info–2

Stratix III Development Kit User Guide © August 2008 Altera Corporation

Preliminary

Introduction

1. About This Kit

Welcome to the Altera® Stratix®III Development 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 kit provides an integrated control environment that includes a USB command controller, a multi-port SRAM/DDR SDRAM/flash memory controller, Ethernet, an on-board meter, and example designs with demonstration circuitry specified in Verilog HDL code to help you get started quickly with your own designs.

The development board includes an Altera Stratix III FPGA configured with a hardware reference design stored in flash memory. You can use the development board, along with example designs included in the kit, as a platform to prototype complex embedded systems.

The development kit includes these kit features and documentation:

Kit Features

■ Stratix III development board

■ Altera Complete Design Suite DVD containing:

■ Quartus

■ MegaCore

■ Nios

■ Stratix III Development Kit CD-ROM including design examples

■ Accessory daughter cards

■ Power supply, cables, and documentation

II Software, Development Kit Edition (DKE)

IP Library

II Embedded Design Suite

This section briefly describes the following Stratix III Development Kit features:

■ Stratix III Development Board—a prototyping platform that allows you to

develop and prototype hardware designs running on the Stratix III FPGA.

f For specific information about board components and interfaces, refer to

the Stratix III Development Board Reference Manual.

■ Quartus II Software, Development Kit Edition (DKE)—The Quartus II software

(available on the DVD) provides a comprehensive environment for system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) design. The Quartus II software integrates into nearly any design environment, with interfaces to industry-standard EDA tools. The kit includes:

■ The SOPC Builder system development tool

■ A one-year Quartus II software license (Windows platform only)

1–2 Chapter 1: About This Kit

Documentation

f The Quartus II DKE software license allows you to use the product for

12 months. After 12 months, you must purchase a renewal subscription to continue using the software. For more information, refer to the Altera website at www.altera.com.

■ MegaCore IP Library—This library (available on the DVD) contains Altera IP

MegaCore functions. You can evaluate MegaCore functions by using the OpenCore

■ Simulate behavior of a MegaCore function within your system

■ Verify functionality of your design, and quickly and easily evaluate its size and

Plus feature to do the following:

speed

■ Generate time-limited device programming files for designs that include

MegaCore functions

■ Program a device and verify your design in hardware

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.

■ Nios II Embedded Design Suite—This full-featured set of tools (available on the

■ Stratix III Development Kit Design Examples—The design examples (available

You only need to purchase a license for a MegaCore function when you are completely satisfied with its functionality and performance, and want to take your design to production.

Documentation

The Stratix III Development Kit CD-ROM contains the following documents:

■ Readme.txt—Contains special instructions and refers to the kit documentation.

■ Stratix III Development Kit User Guide (this document)—Describes how to use the

■ Stratix III Development Board Reference Manual—Provides specific information

f For more information about OpenCore Plus, refer to AN 320: OpenCore

Plus Evaluation of Megafunctions.

DVD) allows you to develop embedded software on the Nios II processor running on Altera FPGAs.

on the CD-ROM) are useful for a variety of hardware applications and let you quickly begin board prototyping and device verification.

kit.

about the board components and interfaces, steps for using the board, and pin-outs and signal specifications.

Stratix III Development Kit User Guide © August 2008 Altera Corporation

Introduction

2. Getting Started

This user guide familiarizes you with the contents of the kit and guides you through the Stratix III development board setup. Using this guide, you can do the following:

■ Inspect the contents of the kit

■ Install the Altera Complete Design Suite Tools

■ Set up licensing

■ Install the Stratix III Development Kit CD-ROM

■ Set up, power up, and verify correct operation of the development board

■ Configure the Stratix III FPGA

■ Find and use the tutorials

■ Set up and run included application examples and demonstrations

f For complete information about the development board, refer to the Stratix III

Development Board Reference Manual.

Before You Begin

Before using the kit or installing the software, check the kit contents and inspect the board to verify that you received all of the items listed in this section. If any of the items are missing, contact Altera before you proceed.

Check the Kit Contents

The Stratix III Development Kit (ordering code: DK-DEV-3SL150N) contains the following items:

■ Stratix III development board with an EP3SL150C3N Stratix III device

■ Altera Complete Design Suite DVD containing:

■ One-year license of Quartus II Software (DKE), Windows platform only

■ MegaCore IP Library

■ Nios II Embedded Design Suite

2–2 Chapter 2: Getting Started

■ Stratix III Development Kit CD-ROM, which includes:

■ Reference designs and demonstrations

■ Stratix III development kit application and device drivers

■ Design examples and tutorials

■ Stratix III Development Board Reference Manual

■ Stratix III Development Kit User Guide (this document)

■ Schematic and board design files

■ USB cable

■ Accessory daughter cards:

■ Two loopback high-speed mezzanine connector (HSMC) cards

■ Debug HSMC card

■ 16 character × 2 line Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

■ 128 × 64 dot matrix graphics LCD

■ 16-V DC Power supply and adapters for North America, Europe, the United

Before You Begin

Kingdom, and Japan.

f To ensure that you have the most up-to-date information about this product, go to the

Inspect the Board

w Without proper anti-static handling, the Stratix III development board can be

1 In typical applications with the Stratix III development board, a heatsink is not

f For more information about power consumption and thermal modeling, refer to

Altera website at www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-siii-host.html.

Place the board on an anti-static surface and inspect it to ensure that it has not been damaged during shipment.

damaged.

Verify that all components are on the board and appear intact.

necessary. However, under extreme conditions the board may require additional cooling to stay within operating temperature guidelines. You may wish to perform power consumption and thermal modeling to determine whether your application requires additional cooling.

AN 358: Thermal Management for FPGAs.

Chapter 2: Getting Started 2–3

References

Hardware Requirements

The Quartus II software has some minimum system requirements. Otherwise, the Stratix III development kit provides all of the hardware needed to use the board.

f For Quartus II software requirements, refer to the Altera website at:

www.altera.com/products/software/products/quartus2web/sofquarwebmain.html.

Software Requirements

This kit requires the following software:

■ Windows XP operating system

■ Quartus II software (refer to the readme.txt file on the CD-ROM for specific

version requirements)

References

For other related information, refer to the following websites:

■ For additional daughter cards available for purchase:

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

■ For the Stratix III device documentation:

www.altera.com/literature/lit-stx3.jsp

■ For eStore if you want to purchase devices:

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

■ For Stratix III Orcad symbols:

www.altera.com/support/software/download/pcb/pcb-pcb_index.html

■ For Nios II 32-bit embedded processor solutions:

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

2–4 Chapter 2: Getting Started

References

Introduction

The instructions in this section explain how to install the following:

■ Stratix III Development Kit CD-ROM

■ Stratix III Development Kit demo application and drivers

■ The Quartus II Software (DKE) on the DVD, including MegaCore functions from

the MegaCore IP Library

1 Before starting the installation, verify that you have complied with the conditions

described in “Software Requirements” on page 2–3.

Installing the Development Kit CD-ROM

The Stratix III Development Kit CD-ROM contains the following items:

3. Software Installation

■ The sample design and board design files

■ Quick Start Guide

■ My First FPGA Tutorial

■ My First Nios II Software Tutorial

■ Stratix III Development Kit User Guide (this document)

■ Stratix III Development Board Reference Manual

To install the Stratix III Development Kit CD-ROM, perform the following steps:

1. Insert the Stratix III Development Kit CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.

1 The CD-ROM should start an auto-install process. If it does not, browse to

the CD-ROM drive and double-click on the setup.exe file.

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

The installation program copies the Stratix III development kit files to an installation directory on the computer hard disk and creates a Programs > Altera > Stratix III Development Kit <version#> Windows Start menu shortcut. Use this shortcut later to launch the development kit graphical user interface (GUI).

The installation program creates the directory structure shown in Figure 3–1 for the Stratix III development kit files. In this user guide, <path> refers to <installation directory>\stratixIII_3sl150_dev when locating the development kit files.

+ 23 hidden pages

Altera Stratix III User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Introduction

1. About This Kit

Kit Features

Documentation

Introduction

2. Getting Started

Before You Begin

Check the Kit Contents

Inspect the Board

References

Hardware Requirements

Software Requirements

Introduction

Installing the Development Kit CD-ROM

3. Software Installation