Allen E.

Paulson College of Engineering

Quartus II Tutorial
Report from a laboratory experiment conducted Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 As part of ENGR 2323 Digital Design Laboratory

Arash S. Mirzakhani 900656011

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Quartus II Tutorial Arash S. Mirzakhani

September 2011 ENGR 2323 Digital Design

Abstract:
The goal of this tutorial experiment was to demonstrate to students the relationship between the Quartus II software and the knowledge gained from prerequisites associated with the fundamentals of digital design. This simple experiment is important because the knowledge acquired will provide a basic foundation for the rest of this course. Although this experiment was specifically designed for Quartus II 9.0 it is also compatible with Quartus II 11.0 web edition which is the software that was ultimately used to design, compile, and test this project. Even though the latest version has been improved the instructions written in the laboratory manual do not require any modification. It is recommended to use the latest edition of Quartus II available because over time support for older editions will expire as they phase out. After only a few modifications and a few minuscule obstacles the experiment was able to duplicate the assigned schematic, simulate the design, and implemented the design on the DE2-70 board by configuring the internal elements of the FPGA.

Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering

Quartus II Tutorial Arash S. Mirzakhani

September 2011 ENGR 2323 Digital Design

Introduction and Background

A. Debugging Debugging hardware and software can be a very tedious task. Most students are not taught a specific method to debugging and often times learn the essential skill on their own. Although different people use various methods there are some basic strategies that novices should know before they begin to fiddle with the DE2-70 board. User Interface Exploitation is referred to in the user manual as avoid[ing] the tendency to treat systems as black boxes that either work or do not work (Digital Design Twiggs). Students have access to oscilloscopes, logic probes, and logic analysers that can help find errors. Working with a purpose will eliminate excessive compiling and save time in the long run. Modularity is very important when working with complex systems because the design process can be broken down into well-defined functions. Isolating components prevents testing of more than one variable thus proving to be always effective. When testing a single variable the user can cross reference values found to the known values. The Kernel is often thought of to be the proven part of the inner system. Finding debugging solutions that depend on the core before they attempt to utilize additional subsystems or perform complex functions can be valuable. Swapping known-good components can be a quick solution to the location of the problem. It is important to focus on using a proven component rather than just any component. Fault tracing concentrates on working backwards through the system when only a single output is off. Usually when a small segment is showing a problem going back one or two steps and calculating signal values based on theory will solve the issue. Last but not least, when all else fails sanity checks can help tackle the issue from a different perspective. Discussing your methods and solutions with a third party can help the individual organized their own thoughts and think deeply about the problem at hand. There are thousands upon thousands of pages published on digital design and many reputable manuals that students are required to bring with them to class. Although these materials have been created by reputable doctors in the field every book has at least one mistake. So remember to never quit and always work with a purpose.

Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering

Quartus II Tutorial Arash S. Mirzakhani

September 2011 ENGR 2323 Digital Design

B. The DE2-70 Board

The Altera DE2-70 Development and Education board is a modified version of the notorious DE2 board with a larger FPGA and more memory. It is an excellent tool for learning about digital logic. It Features an Altera Cyclone II 2C70 FPGA, the DE2 board and designed for university and college laboratory use. It is the board of choice and will be used in all laboratory experiments to follow. C. Tutorial Introduction Computer Aided Design (CAD) has revolutionized the way we work in the laboratory today. Complex design schematics that could take several hours by hand now are graphed efficiently by software such as Alteras Quartus II. Since CAD is available to all engineers it has become the means of performing the primary stages of product development. One element of product development deals with Functional Simulation. This means that without physically building the circuit, the design files can be simulated to see how they behave. After a simulation, the values can be compared with known correct values to verify it is working properly. In this experiment Quartus II 11.0 web edition was used to replicate designs in the Digital Design Laboratory Manual and the DE2-70 Board was used to test the design. This experiment was carried out in order to familiarize students with both the software and the board.
Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering

Quartus II Tutorial Arash S. Mirzakhani

September 2011 ENGR 2323 Digital Design

Theory
The laboratory experiment was based on three simple gates: A. AND gate An AND gate gives a 1 or True output only and only if all the inputs are True or 1. If even a single output is False or 0, it will not give any output meaning thereby that the output will be False or 0.

B. NOT gate A NOT gate is a special type of gate in that it has only one input and only one output. It is also known as the name of an inverter because it inverts or reverses the input. This simply means that if the input is False, the output is True and vice versa. It is used in conjunction with other gates to negate or reverse their output when so required and in such cases; those gates whose output has been negated are also known as bubbled gates.

C. OR gate The or gate is a another digital logic gate that implements logical disjunction. Its behaviors have been noted in the graphical image below.

Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering

Quartus II Tutorial Arash S. Mirzakhani

September 2011 ENGR 2323 Digital Design

List of Equipment Used

This laboratory experiment was basic and only required a DE2-70, a computer running Microsoft Windows Seven, and Quartus II software that has cyclone II support.

Overview of Procedure
The laboratory procedures have been noted below as a brief overview. If further explanation is needed it is recommended to reference to appendix b in the Digital Design Laboratory Manual. 1)Open Quartus II 2)File>New Project Wizard>Next>Next>selection of DE2-70 with 896 pin count>next>next>finish 3)Assignments>device>device and pin options>unused pins> change the Reserve all unused pins: option to As input tri-stated 4)File>new>block diagram/schematic file>ok 5)Proceed to draw the diagram in figure 1.5 of the Digital Design Laboratory Manual. 6)Make the proper pin assignments for the DE2-70 7)Processing>start complication 8)Processing> start> start analysis and synthesis 9)Select the vector wave form file and selected the assigned pins from above. 10) Make sure to change the value of the clock to match those required by the lab manual. 11) Download the design to the DE2-70 and verify the design works.

Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering

Quartus II Tutorial Arash S. Mirzakhani

September 2011 ENGR 2323 Digital Design

Required Data
Schematic for the circuit:
AN D 2 O U T PU T

d6

sw4

IN P U T VCC

in s t

OR2

O U T PU T

d3

NOT

inst2

inst1

NOT

in s t 5

sw5

IN P U T VCC AN D 2

in s t 4
O U T PU T

d5

The functional Simulation Results:

Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering

Quartus II Tutorial Arash S. Mirzakhani

September 2011 ENGR 2323 Digital Design

The timing simulation results:

Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering

Quartus II Tutorial Arash S. Mirzakhani

September 2011 ENGR 2323 Digital Design

Data Sheet for Toggle Switches from the DE2-70 Manual:

Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering

Quartus II Tutorial Arash S. Mirzakhani

September 2011 ENGR 2323 Digital Design

Analysis of Required Data

A block diagram is the starting point of almost all Quartus II projects and visually describes the theoretic circuit board. After assigning correct locations to the pins one can see them also show up on the block diagram. Anything that you will need to create a decent block diagram will be stored under a library of functions in the mainframe folder of Quartus II. A vector wave form file can be created to test and show a functional simulation of the block diagram. Pin assignments help save time because they can be later found with the node finder tool. The timing diagram looks very similar but shows actual time delays. Altera has posted its DE2-70 manual online for users to take advantage of. Anything that might be in question can be found in its pages.

Conclusions
Overall, this was a great tutorial laboratory to start a connection between textbook digital design and using the knowledge to aid in laboratory experiments. Throughout this project students were able to familiarize themselves with the DE2-70 board. By reading the combination of numbers and letters written on the FPGA one can extract vital information about the boards features and specification. Drawing a schematic on the computer was a first for some and good exercise for others. The most important part was simulating the design to verify that it behaves like an exclusive OR circuit. It was exciting to see that in action on the DE2-70 by playing with the toggle switches. It wouldnt be possible without assigned input and output switches that were consistent with the locations of the switches and LEDs on the DE2-70 board!

References
Digital Design Laboratory Manual Twigg, Collins Rapid Prototyping of Digital Systems Hamblen, Furman DE2-70 Manual Altera

Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering