EE-313 – Digital Logic and
Microprocessors
Quartus II 12.0sp1
Familiarization Guide
Quartus II Environment
• The next few slides will highlight important the
location of important parts of the Quartus II
design environment.
• Specifically, the following items will be
highlighted.
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Dropdown menus
Shortcut toolbars
Status bar
Dockable Utility Windows
Editor Space
Shortcut Toolbars
Drop Down Menus
Status Bar
These operate like most other
Windows programs.
Project Navigator Window
Task Window
Message Window
These are the three most commonly used Utility
Windows. If they are ever accidently closed, they
can be restored by going to the View-> Utility
Window dropdown menu.
• Project Navigator Window - Allows the user to see all
the components of the project and how they relate.
• Task Window – Shows the progress of various tasks
such as compiling and provides links to their settings
and reports.
• Messages Window – Provides important compiler
messages such as warnings and errors that can be used
in debugging.
When a design file is opened for editing or a report
is opened for reading, this is where it’s
corresponding window is placed. Multiple files
may be opened at the same time and are
selectable using the tab at the top of the region.
The name of the file will be shown on the selection
tab.
Editor/Report Space
Common Dropdown Functions
• There are some common operations/tools
contained in the drop down menus you will
need to perform while using Quartus II.
• They include
– File and Project Creating, Saving and Closing
– Pin Assigning
– Compiling
– Schematic Viewing (RTL Viewer)
– Programming
As with most Windows programs, the File drop down
menu is where you create, save, open and close things.
For Quartus II, these things are projects, design files,
symbol files and various other files related to a project.
Design files are the meat of a project and symbol files
schematic symbols representing the contents of a
particular design.
**** I M P O R T A N T ****
You should always open or create a Project before
creating a new design file!
This is where you create or update
symbols for your designs. (More on
that later.)
This is where you specify the FPGA type.
This is where you can change your pin
assignments.
This is where you import previously
defined pin assignments.
Part of the design process is determining what pins will
be used for the various inputs and outputs of your
project. That is where the Assignment Editor And
Device menu options come into play.
**** I M P O R T A N T ****
Always save and recompile your project after making a
change to the assignments.
The status of your compiling
will be indicated here.
Warnings and Errors will
show up here.
After the design is complete, it must be
compiled into a form that can be used to
program your FPGA or simulated. This
process is started by selecting Processing>Start Compilation, pressing Control-L, or
clicking the purple arrow on the shortcut
toolbar.
**** I M P O R T A N T ****
Make sure you save any changes before
compiling your project.
Note that it is possible to
simulate the performance
results of a design.
After the design is compiled, it is frequently
desirable to see a schematic of the final result.
This can be done using the RTL Viewer.
The last step before testing is programming
the FPGA. Programming sends the compiled
design to the FPGA thus implementing the
design. The data is passed via the USB
Blaster Port.
Creating a Project
• A new project is created by starting the New
Project Wizard. This is done by either
– Selecting File->New Project Wizard from the
dropdown menus
– Clicking the Create A New Project button on the
Quartus II opening Splash screen.
• The following slides will discuss the process
for creating a new project.
The first step of creating a new project is selecting the working directory for the project. This is the
location where all of the project’s files should be kept. It is important that you choose a unique
meaningful location for all projects.
After the directory is selected enter the project name and the name of your top-level design entity.
The top-level design entity encompasses all lesser entities. If you were designing a house, it would
be the house. Other smaller entities that make up the house might include a bedroom, bathroom,
kitchen, etc.
**** I M P O R T A N T ****
Ensure that the project working directory name is unique.
Ensure that the project working directory is contained in your own folder NOT c:\altera\anything...
Ensure you remember the location and name of your project.
Ensure none of the names contain spaces as this may cause issues later
Click the Next > button when
ready to continue.
The next step is to add any pre-existing files
to your project. This is how one would add
and reuse components designed in a
separate project. It prevents having to
reinvent the wheel. If there are no existing
files one can simply proceed to the next
dialog box.
Click the Next > button when
ready to continue.
The third step in the New Project Wizard is selecting
the FPGA device that the project should be
compiled for. Find the name of the FPGA on your
Altera board to determine the correct FPGA and
then select it in the list of Available devices.
**** I M P O R T A N T ****
Selecting the wrong device or no device will result in
your project compiling but not working.
Click the Next > button when
ready to continue.
The fourth step is to select any EDA tools
that might be used in addition to Quartus II.
If there are none, leave the entries as None
and continue.
Click the Next > button when
ready to continue.
Verify these make sense and
follow the guidelines.
Verify these match your
Altera board.
The last step of the New Project Wizard is to
verify your entries. If there are any
mistakes, click the <Back button until you
reach the appropriate menu and make any
necessary corrections. When all corrections
are complete, click the Finish button and
your new project will be created.
Adding a Design File to a Project
• While there are many types of design files
available, only two will be discussed here.
They are Schematic Block Diagram files (.bdf)
and VHDL (.vhd) files.
• They are added to the project by selecting
File->New… from the dropdown menus.
• Files that are part of a project will be listed in
the Files tab of the Project Navigator.
Input Pins
This screenshot shows that the project contains
two files. One is a VHDL file called ee313and.vhd
and the other is a Schematic file called
misslelaunchtoplevelentity.bdf. The Schematic file
is opened in the editor where you can see three
input pins, three output pins and a symbol for the
VHDL file ee313and.vhd. There is another output
pin that can not be seen without using the
horizontal slide bar.
ee313and entity
symbol
Output Pins
Adding Components to a Schematic
Components can be added to a
schematic from other project
entities or built in library entities.
Common library entities include the
primitive input/output pins and
standard logic functions.
Input Pin Primitive
A Project Specific Entity
LIBRARY Section
3 inputs and 1 output.
ENTITY Section
ARCHITECTURE Section
While drawing a circuit using a schematic is one
method of inputting your design, a second is
writing a VHDL file that describes either the
structure, dataflow, or behavior of the design.
Note that there are three sections to a VHDL file.
How the inputs and
outputs are connected.
Compiling a Project
• Before a project can be sent to the FPGA, it
must be compiled.
• Start compiling by either
– selecting Processing->Start Compilation
– pressing Control-L
– clicking the purple arrow on the shortcut toolbar.
Compile Design Progress
Once compiling has started, the progress bar in
the Task Utility window will start to increase from
0-100%. Be patient for large designs. Errors and
Warnings will show up in the Messages Utility
window.
Once compiling has completed, a dialog box will
pop up stating it was successful and how many
warnings were received or that it failed. Warnings
and errors will be listed in the Messages Utility
window. Learning how to sort through these
warnings and errors will speed debugging and
come with time and practice.
Programming the Altera Board
• The last step before testing is programming
the FPGA. Programming sends the compiled
design to the FPGA thus implementing the
design.
• Start the programmer by either
– selecting Tools->Programmer
– clicking the button the shortcut toolbar.
These indicate the software is
ready to program.
Before programming, you must make sure the
Altera board is connected to the computer via the
USB-Blaster cable and that Quartus II is set up to
program via the USB-Blaster. If the software is
not ready to program, click the Hardware Setup
button.
After clicking the Hardware Setup button, select
USB-Blaster. If USB-Blaster is not available, verify
your cable is connect to the correct ports and then
click the Add Hardware button. Select the
appropriate hardware and then click the Close
button.
Start button after being clicked.
Programming Progress
Once you have verified your Hardware Setup, you
can click the Start button. It will start to program
the Altera board. If it fails verify your device type
is correct and your RUN/PROG switch is in the RUN
position.
Once your programming progress is 100% you may
now test your design. Thorough testing is a critical
part of any design process. Have a plan for test
and follow it meticulously. Document all results
and steps taken to obtain said results.
The End