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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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13 years ago

Need some quick advice and direction on FPGA uses for quadcopters

My Altera Cyclone IV has been an awesome education board. However, every-time power is shut off I lose my program. I was just curious if their are any FPGA's out there that don't lose their program when power is shut off and that may be available in a more "smaller" compact size suitable for projects. I'm a beginner so take it easy on me if these are dumb questions. I was told that FPGA's would deliver faster program execution and more precise timing. Therefore, I was wanting to use an FPGA on a quadcopter but don't understand how it's going to keep it's programmable information if power is shut on and off. Could someone point me in the direction on some information pertaining to my questions. I would appreciate any help you might have.

6 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    13 years ago

    FPGAs lose their configuration because they LUTs and switches are SRAM. In order to configure the device each time you power up there are configuration memory, like EPCS1, ECPS4, etc. There are SPI EEPROMs. Your board doesn't have one?

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    13 years ago

    I'm must be doing something to make it erase every time I power it up. I'll have to set up a few tests and if it persist i'll get back with ya. Is Quartus II the only software out there I can use. As a student we were suggested to use Quartus II but the professor didn't really give a precise answer on why we should. Are there any other options out there that someone might suggest otherwise or should I stick with Quartus II.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    13 years ago

    What u're doing to erase it is powering off the circuit. This kits have a USB-Blaster programmer built-in the board. From Quartus, when you start the programmer windows, it appears in the right top corner the "mode" of programming. Probably u selected "JTAG" mode. In this mode you lost the configuration when you power off the circuit.

    Try to select "Active Serial". A pop-up window tell you that the programming file extension ( .sof ) isn't compatible with JTAG mode. Click Ok and the Add a programming file. Select the one with .pof extension. Programm again. The configuration will be stored in the EPCS memory.