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Altera_Forum
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13 years ago

Cyclon 3 PCB standart Configuration

is there any book or guide for Cyclon 3 standart configuration onto PCB? i'm trying to design a circuit board for cyclon 3. for example how to connect vcc, where to connect it. then ground... what to do next,what NOT to do. how to make i\o bank working without burning things up. ok there are few books but they all use Starter kits which already is soldered onto a pcb.all these books somehow forgot that before you go onto quartus; first you must turn on the fpga somehow.

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  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    --- Quote Start ---

    is there any book or guide for Cyclon 3 standart configuration onto PCB?

    --- Quote End ---

    The data sheet has all the required details for configuration. However, most of your questions relate to "How do I design a board?". Here's an overview;

    1) Define what your board needs to do.

    2) Find parts that can implement the requirements in (1).

    3) Create tables of voltages and currents for all of the devices in (2).

    4) FPGA power; there's no current requirements listed in the data sheet, so you have to use the Early Power Estimator to get a preliminary estimate of your power requirements.

    5) Design a power tree and clocking tree for all the devices.

    6) Create a schematic and add the devices and power supplies. If the devices operate at different logic levels, then make sure to either add level translation devices, or use FPGA I/O banks with appropriate VCCIO voltages.

    7) Create a design for your FPGA to improve the power estimate in (4). Use PowerPlay to determine the current required on its power supplies. Confirm the current from your power supplies is sufficient (allow some margin for design changes increasing the current).

    8) Decide how your FPGA will be configured (passive serial, active serial, etc). The choice may depend on the requirements in (1). For example, PCI/PCIe devices have to configure at power-on very quickly, and active serial may not meet that requirement.

    9) Iterate and confirm all the requirements are met.

    10) Start a PCB design and layout the board. Depending on the space available on your PCB, you may have to revisit some earlier design decisions.

    Before you start on this procedure, review reference designs. Look at their documentation, and you'll see examples of this design flow - you won't necessarily see all steps in their documentation - however you will see the results of those steps, eg., tables of power supply voltages and currents, power trees, clock trees etc. Use those references as the starting point for your own design.

    Cheers,

    Dave
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    A good place to look is the Pin Information File for the specific device you're using (either pdf or xls format). Besides listing the specific pinout for the device there are a few pages near the end of each document that list and describe each of the "special purpose" pins like VCCIO, VCCINT, configuration pins, etc. It tells you how to connect each one, which ones are dual-purpose, how to connect the ones you're not using, etc. Invaluable information all in one place.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    dwh caltech.edu

    well, as you see you have written so many things.. power estimations so on... there must be some book that describes all that... i know, self-taught people always give silly questions that's because of the gaps and imperfection of their knowledge

    Daixiwen

    thanks maybe that will help me a bit.

    if someone knows any book please share.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    --- Quote Start ---

    dwh caltech.edu

    well, as you see you have written so many things.. power estimations so on... there must be some book that describes all that... i know, self-taught people always give silly questions that's because of the gaps and imperfection of their knowledge

    --- Quote End ---

    I do have an entire bookshelf of books, however, there is not one that answers your specific design questions.

    I believe there are a couple of books from Newnes that might have a broad overview of design, however, because they are broad, they likely do not have anything specific.

    My best recommendation is to buy a development kit and study it. Look at the schematics and 'reverse-engineer' the thinking behind the design. Perform some tests with the hardware. Gain 'experience'.

    There are plenty of forum members here that will help answer questions.

    Cheers,

    Dave