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Chpater1 Hardware Design
This tutorial provides comprehensive information that will help you understand how to create a FPGA based SOPC system implementing on your FPGA development board and run software upon it.
1.1 Required Features
The Nios II processor core is a soft-core central processing unit that you could program onto an Altera field programmable gate array (FPGA). This tutorial illustrates you to the basic flow covering hardware creation and software building. You are assumed to have the latest Quartus II and NIOS II EDS software installed and quite familiar with the operation of Windows OS. If you use a different Quartus II and NIOS II EDS version, there will have some small difference during the operation. You are also be assumed to possess a SoCKit development board (other kinds of dev. Board based on Altera FPGA chip also supported).
The example NIOS II standard hardware system provides the following necessary components:
- Nios II processor core, that’s where the software will be executed
- On-chip memory to store and run the software
- JTAG link for communication between the host computer and target hardware (typically using a USB-BlasterII cable)
- LED peripheral I/O (PIO), be used as indicators
1.2 Creation of Hardware Design
This section describes the flow of how to create a hardware system including SOPC feature.
1. Launch Quartus II then select File->New Project Wizard, start to create a new project. See Figure 1-1and Figure 1-2.
Figure 1‑1 Start to Create a New Project
Figure 1‑2 New Project Wizard
2. Choose a working directory for this project, type project name and top-level entity name as shown in Figure 1-3. Then click Next, you will see a window as shown in Figure 1-4.
Figure 1‑3 Input the working directory, the name of project, top-level design entity
Figure 1‑4 New Project Wizard: Add Files [page 2 of 5]
3. Click Next to next window. We choose device family and device settings. You should choose settings the same as the Figure 1-5. Then click Next to next window as shown in Figure 1-6.</div>
Figure 1‑5 New Project Wizard: Family & Device Settings [page 3 of 5]
Figure 1‑6 New Project Wizard: EDA Tool Settings [page 4 of 5]
4. Click Next and will see a window as shown in Figure 1-7. Figure 1-7is a summary about our new project. Click Finish to finish new project. Figure 1-8show a new complete project.
Figure 1‑7 New Project Wizard: Summary [page 5 of 5]
Figure 1‑8 A New Complete Project
5. Choose Tools > Qsys to open new Qsys system wizard . See Figure 1-9and Figure 1-10.
Figure 1‑9 Qsys Menu
Figure 1‑10 Create New Qsys System
6. Save as the System as shown in Figure 1-11.
Figure 1‑11 Save System
7. Rename System Name as shown in Figure 1-12. Click Save and your will see a window as shown in Figure 1-13.
Figure 1‑12 Rename System
Figure 1‑13 A New System
8. Click the Name of the Clock Settings table, rename clk_0 to clk_50. Press Enter to complete the update. See Figure 1-14.
Figure 1‑14 Rename Clock Name
9. Choose Library > Embedded Processors > Nios II Processor to open wizard of adding cpu component. See Figure 1-15 and Figure 1-16.
Figure 1‑15 Add Nios II Processor
Figure 1‑16 Nios II Processor
10. Click Finish to return to main window as shown in Figure 1-17.
Figure 1‑17 Add Nios II CPU completely
11. Choose nios2_qsys_0 and right-click then choose rename, after this, you can update nios2_qsys _0 to nios2_qsys. See Figure 1-18 and Figure 1-19.
Figure 1‑18 Rename CPU name (1)
Figure 1‑19 Rename CPU Name (2)
11. Connect the clk and clk_reset as shown in Figure 1-20. (clicking the hollow dots on the connection line. The dots become solid indicatingthe ports are connected.)
Figure 1‑20 Connect the clk and clk_reset
12. Choose Library > Interface Protocols > Serial > JTAG UART to open wizard of adding JTAG UART. See Figure 1-21 and Figure 1-22.
Figure 1‑21 Add JTAG UART (1)
Figure 1‑22 JTAG UART (2)
13. Click Finish to close the wizard and return to the window as shown in Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑23 JTAG UART
14. Choose jtag_uart_0 and rename it to jtag_uart as shown in Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑24 Rename JTAG UAR
15. Connect the clk and clk_reset and data_master as shown in Figure 1-5.
Figure 1‑25 Connect JTAG UART
16. Choose Library > Memories and Memory Controllers > On-Chip > On-Chip Memory (RAM or ROM) to open wizard of adding On-Chip memory. See Figure 1-and Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑26 Add On-Chip Memory
Figure 1‑27 On-Chip Memory Box
17. Modify Total memory size to 204800 as shown in Figure 1-. Click Finish to return to the window as in Figure 1-29.
Figure 1‑28 Update Total memory size
Figure 1‑29Add On-Chip memory Completely
18. Rename onchip_memory2_0 to onchip_memory2 as shown in Figure 1-30.
Figure 1‑30 Rename On-Chip memory
19. Connect the clk and clk_reset and data_master as shown in Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑31 Connect On-Chip memory
20. Click nios2_qsys in the component list on the right part to edit the component. Update Reset vector and Exception Vector as shown in Figure 1-32. Then click Finish to return to the window as shown Figure 1-33.
Figure 1‑32 Update CPU settings
Figure 1‑33 Update CPU settings Completely
21. Choose Library > Peripherals > Debug and Performance >System ID Peripheral to open wizard of adding System ID. See Figure 1-and Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑34 Add System ID [0]
Figure 1‑35 Add System ID [1]
22. Click Finish to close System ID Peripheral box and return to the window, rename sysid_qsys_0 to sysid_qsys and connect the clk and clk_reset and data_master as shown in Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑36 Add System ID [2]
23. Choose Library > Peripherals > Microcontroller Peripherals >PIO (Parallel I/O) to open wizard of adding PIO. See Figure 1-and Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑37 Add PIO
Figure 1‑38 Add PIO
24. Click Finish to close PIO box and return to the window as shown in Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑39 PIO
25. Rename pio_0 to led as shown in Figure 1-40.
Figure 1‑40 Rename PIO
26. Connect the clk and clk_reset and data_master as shown in Figure 1-.
500pxFigure 1‑41 Connect PIO
27. Export external_connection and Rename it to led as shown in Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑42 Export external_connection
28. Choose System > Assign Base Addresses as shown in Figure 1-43. After that, you will find that there is no error in the message window as shown in Figure 1-44.
Figure 1‑43 Assign Base Addresses
Figure 1‑44 No Errors
29. Assign Interrupt Numbers as shown in Figure 1-45. After that, you will find that there is no warings in the message window as shown in Figure 1-46.( In the IRQ column, connect the Nios II processor to the JTAG UART)
Figure 1‑45 Assign IRQ
Figure 1‑46 No Warings
30. Click Generate tab and click Generate then pop a window as shown in Figure 1-. Click Save and the generation start. Figure 1-shows the generate process. If there is no error in the generation, the window will show successful as shown in Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑47 Generate Qsys
Figure 1‑48 Generate Qsys
Figure 1‑49 Generate Qsys Completely
31. Click Close to close the dialog box and exit the Qsys and return to the window as shown in Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑50 Exit Qsys
32. Choose File > New to open new files wizard. See Figure 1-and Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑51 New Verilog file
Figure 1‑52 New Verilog File
33. Choose Verilog HDL File and click OK to return to the window as shown in Figure 1-.
Figure 1-show a blank verilog file.
Figure 1‑53 A blank verilog file
34. Type verilog the following script as shown in Figure 1-54. The module SoCKit_Qsys of the code is from SoCKit _Qsys.v of the project. See 55 and Figure 1-56.
module My_First_NiosII(
CLOCK_50,
LED
);
input CLOCK_50;
output [3:0] LED;
SoCKit_QSYS u0(
.clk_clk (CLOCK_50),
.led_export (LED),
.reset_reset_n (1'b1)
);
Figure 1‑54 Input verilog Text
Figure 1‑55 Open SoCKit_QSYS.v
Figure 1‑56 SoCKit_QSYS module
35. Choose Save Icon in the tool bar. There will appear a window as shown in Figure 1-57. Click Save.
Figure 1‑57 Save Verilog file
36. Add File in project as shown in Figure 1-58, add SoCKit_QSYS.qsys and SoCKit_QSYS.v to the project as shown in Figure 1-59 and Figure 1-60. it is completed as shown in Figure 1-.
Figure 1‑58 Add file
Figure 1‑59 Add file
Figure 1‑60 Add file
Figure 1‑61 Add file completely
37. Choose Processing > Start Compilation as shown in Figure 1-62. Figure 1-63 shows the compilation process.
Figure 1‑62 Start Compilation
Figure 1‑63 Execute Compilation
Note: In the compilation, if there is the error which shows “Error: The core supply voltage of ‘1.0v’ is illegal for the currently selected part.”, you should modify the text “set_global_assignment -name NOMINAL_CORE_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE 1.0V” to “set_global_assignment -name NOMINAL_CORE_SUPPLY_VOLTAGE 1.2V” in the myfirst_niosii.qsf of the project.
38. A window that shows successfully will appear as shown in Figure 1-64.
Figure 1‑64 Compilation project completely
39. Choose Assignments > Pins to open pin planner as shown in Figure 1-65. Figure 1-66 show blank pins.
Figure 1‑65 Pins menu
Figure 1‑66 Blank Pins
40. Input Location value as shown in Figure 1-67.
Figure 1‑67 Set Pins
41. Close the pin planner. Restart compilation the project as shown in Figure 1-68.
Figure 1‑68 Compilation project again
1.3 Download Hardware Design to Target FPGA
This section describes how to download the configuration file to the board.
Download the FPGA configuration file (i.e. the SRAM Object File (.sof) that contains the NIOS II standard system) to the board by performing the following steps:
1. Connect the board to the host computer via the USB download cable.
2. Apply power to the board.
3. Start the Nios II Software Build Tools (SBT) for Eclipse.
4. After the welcome page appears, click Workbench.
5. Choose Nios II->Quartus II Programmer.
6. Click Auto Detect. The device on your development board should be detected automatically.
7. Click the top row to highlight it.
8. Click Change File.
9. Browse to the My_First_NiosII project directory.
10. Select the programming file (My_First_NiosII.sof) for your board.
11. Click OK.
12. Click Hardware Setup in the top, left comer of the Quartus II programmer window. The Hardware Setup dialog box appears.
13. Select USB-BlasterII from the Currently selected hardware drop-down list box.
Note: If the appropriate download cable does not appear in the list, you must first install drivers for the cable. Refer to Quartus II Help for information on how to install the driver. See Figure 1-69.
Figure 1‑69 Hardware Setup Window
14. Click Close.
15. Turn on the Program/Configure option for the programming file.(See Figure 1-70 for an example).
16. Click Start.
Figure 1‑70 Quartus II Programmer
The Progress meter sweeps to 100% after the configuration finished. When configuration is complete, the FPGA is configured with the Nios II system, but it does not yet have a C program in memory to execute.
Chapter 2Chpater2 NIOS II Softwar Build Tools for Eclipse
This Chapter covers build flow of Nios II C coded software program.
The Nios II Software Build Tools (SBT) for Eclipse is an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) that automates build and makefile management. The Nios II SBT for Eclipse integrates a text editor, debugger, ,the BSP editor ,the Nios II flash programmer and the Quartus II Programmer. The included example software application templates make it easy for new software programmers to get started quickly. In this section you will use the Nios II SBT for Eclipse to compile a simple C language example software program to run on the Nios II standard system configured onto the FPGA on your development board. You will create a new software project, build it, and run it on the target hardware. You will also edit the project, re-build it, and set up a debug session.
2.1 Create the hello_world Example Project
In this section you will create a new NIOS II C/C++ application project based on an installed example. To begin, perform the following steps in the NIOS II SBT for Eclipse:
1. Return to the NIOS II Software Build Tools for Eclipse.
Note: you can close the Quartus II Programmer or leave it open in the background if you want to reload the processor system onto your development board quickly.
2. Choose File > Switch Workspace to switch workspace. See Figure 2-12and Figure 2-13.
Figure 2‑12 Switch Workspace (1)
Figure 2‑13 Switch Workspace (2)
3. Choose File->New->NIOS II Application and BSP from Template open the New Project Wizard.
4. In the New Project wizard, make sure the following things:
● Under Target hardware information, next to SOPC Information File name, browse to locate the <design files directory> where the previously created hardware project resides as shown in Figure 2-14.
● Select first_nios2_system.sopcinfo and click Open. You return to the Nios II Application and BSP from Template wizard showing current information for the SOPC Information File name and CPU name fields.
● Select the Hello World project template.
● Give the project a name. (hello_world_0 is default name),there we rename it to My_First_NiosII.
Figure 2‑14 Nios II-Ecplise New Project Wizard
5. Click Finish. The NIOS II SBT for Eclipse creates the My_First_NiosII project and returns to the Nios II C/C++ project perspective. See Figure 2-15.
Figure 2‑15 Ecplise Project Perspective for My_First_NiosII
When you create a new project, the NIOS II SBT for Eclipse creates two new projects in the NIOS II C/C++ Projects tab:
■ My_First_NiosII (hello_world_0 is default name) is your C/C++ application project. This project contains the source and header files for your application.
■My_First_NiosII_bsp (hello_world_0_bsp is default name) is a board support package that encapsulates the details of theNios II system hardware.
Note:When you build the system library for the first time the NIOS II SBT for Eclipse automatically generates files useful for software development, including:
● Installed IP device drivers, including SOPC component device drivers for the NIOS II hardware system
● Newlib C library, which is a richly featured C library for the NIOS II processor.
● NIOS software packages which includes NIOS II hardware abstraction layer, NicheStack TCP/IP Network stack, NIOS II host file system, NIOS II read-only zip file system and Micrium’s μC/OS-II real time operating system(RTOS).
● system.h, which is a header file that encapsulates your hardware system.
● alt_sys_init.c, which is an initialization file that initializes the devices in the system.
● Hello_world_0.elf, which is an executable and linked format file for the application located in hello_world_0 folder under Debug.
2.2 Build and Run the Program
In this section you will build and run the program to execute the compiled code.
To build the program, right-click the My_First_NiosII project in the Nios II C/C++ Projects tab and choose Build Project. The Build Project dialog box appears and the Eclipse begins compiling the project. When compilation completes, a message ‘[My_First_NiosII build complete]’ will appear in the Console tab. The compilation time varies depending on your system. See Figure 2-16for an example.
Figure 2‑16 My_First_NiosII Build Completed
After compilation complete, right-click the My_First_NiosII project, choose Run As, and chooseNIOS II Hardware. The Eclipse begins to download the program to the target FPGA developmentboard and begins execution. When the target hardware begins executing the program, the message ’Hello from Nios II!’ appears in the NIOS II SBT for Eclipse Console tab. See Figure 2-17for an example.
Figure 2‑17 My_First_NiosII Program Output
Now you have created, compiled, and run your first software program based on NIOS II. And you can perform additional operations such as configuring the system properties, editing and re-building the application, and debugging the source code.
2.3 Edit and Re-Run the Program
You can modify the hello_world.c program file in the Eclipse, build it, and re-run the program to observe your changes executing on the target board. In this section you will add code that will make LED blink.
Perform the following steps to modify and re-run the program:
1. In the hello_world.c file, add the text shown in blue in the example below:
#include <stdio.h>
#include "system.h"
#include "altera_avalon_pio_regs.h"
int main()
{
printf("Hello from Nios II!\n");
int count = 0;
int delay;
while(1)
{
IOWR_ALTERA_AVALON_PIO_DATA(LED_BASE, count & 0x01);
delay = 0;
while(delay < 1000000)
{
delay++;
}
count++;
}
return 0;
}
2. Save the project.
3. Recompile the file by right-clicking My_First_NiosII in the NIOS II C/C++ Projects tab and choosing Run > Run As > Nios II Hardware.
Note: You do not need to build the project manually; the NIOS II SBT for Eclipse automatically re-builds the program before downloading it to the FPGA.
4. Orient your development board so that you can observe LED blinking.
2.4 Why the LED Blinks
The Nios II system description header file, system.h, contains the software definitions, name, locations, base addresses, and settings for all of the components in the Nios II hardware system. The system.h file is located in the in the My_First_NiosII _bsp directory as shown in Figure 2-18.
Figure 2‑18 System.h Location
If you look at the system.h file for the Nios II project example used in this tutorial, you will notice the led function. This function controls the LED. The Nios II processor controls the PIO ports (and thereby the LED) by reading and writing to the register map. For the PIO, there are four registers: data, direction, interrupt mask, and edge capture. To turn the LED on and off, the application writes to the PIO data register.
The PIO core has an associated software file altera_avalon_pio_regs.h. This file defines the core’s register map, providing symbolic constants to access the low-level hardware.
Thealtera_avalon_pio_regs.h
file is located in altera\<version number>\ip\sopc_builder_ip\altera_avalon_pio.
When you include the altera_avalon_pio_regs.h file, several useful functions that manipulate the PIO core registers are available to your program. In particular, the function
IOWR_ALTERA_AVALON_PIO_DATA (base, data)
can write to the PIO data register, turning the LED on and off. The PIO is just one of many SOPC peripherals that you can use in a system. To learn about the PIO core and other embedded peripheral cores, refer to Quartus II Version <version> Handbook Volume 5: Embedded Peripherals.
When developing your own designs, you can use the software functions and resources that are provided with the Nios II HAL. Refer to the Nios II Software Developer’s Handbook for extensive documentation on developing your own Nios II processor-based software applications.
2.5 Debugging the Application
Before you can debug a project in the NIOS II SBT for Eclipse, you need to create a debug configuration that specifies how to run the software. To set up a debug configuration, perform the following steps:
1. In the hello_world.c, double-click the front of the line which is needed to set breakpoint. See Figure 2-19.
Figure 2‑19 Set Breakpoint
2. To debug your application, right-click the application (hello_world_0 by default) and choose Debug as > Nios II Hardware.
3. If the Confirm Perspective Switch message box appears, click Yes.
4. After a moment, the main () function appears in the editor. A blue arrow next to the first line of code indicates that execution stopped at that line.
5. Choose Run-> Resume to resume execution.
When debugging a project in the Nios II SBT for Eclipse, you can pause, stop or single step the program, set breakpoints, examine variables, and perform many other common debugging tasks.
Note: To return to the Nios II C/C++ project perspective from the debug perspective, click the two arrows >> in the top right corner of the GUI.
2.6 Configure BSP Editor
In this section you will learn how to configure some advanced options about the target memory or other things. By performing the following steps, you can charge all the available settings:
1. In the Nios II SBT for Eclipse, right-click My_First_NiosII_bsp and choose Nios II-> BSP Editor. The BSP Editor dialog box opens.
2. The Main page contains settings related to how the program interacts with the underlying hardware. The settings have names that correspond to the targeted NIOS II hardware.
3. In the Linker Script box, observe which memory has been assigned for Program memory(.text), Read-only data memory(.rodata), Read/write data memory(.rwdata), Heap memory, and Stack memory, see Figure 2-20. These settings determine which memory is used to store the compiled executable program when the example My_First_NiosII programs runs. You can also specify which interface you want to use for stdio , stdin, and stderr. You can also add and configure an RTOS for your application and configure build options to support C++, reduced device drivers, etc.
4. Choose onchip_memory2 for all the memory options in the Linker Script box. See Figure 2-20for an example.
Figure 2‑20 Configuring BSP
5. Click Exit to close the BSP Editor dialog box and return to the Eclipse workbench.
Note: If you make changes to the system properties or the Qsys properties or your hardware, you must rebuild your project. To rebuild, right-click the My_First_NiosII_BSP->Nios II->Generate BSP and then Rebuild Project.
