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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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10 years ago

Programming EPCS16 by microcontroller

Hi alltogether,

I am quite new here so maybe the following questions sound very easy for some of you.

I use the FPGA EP4C10E2I7 together with the flash EPCS16.

The flash can be read/written by the FPGA and the SPI interface of the microcontroller AM335x

due to a multiplexer IC.

I can program the flash with the JIC-File and the USB-Blaster without any problem.

My next step will be to use the microcontroller to program the EPCS16 and to start the FPGA

without resetting the power supply.

Question 1: What kind of programming file do I have to progam into the EPCS16 by the microcontroller?

Question 2: How can I restart the FPGA after I have written its code into the EPCS16 without turning off the FPGAs power supply?

It would be nice to get some help from you. If you have some additional information concerning the above described problems,

it would be also nice to get them.

Thanks a lot in advance!!!

Best regards,

Funky Pi

2 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    10 years ago

    Question 1

    You can use any file format your microcontroller is able to process. One of the simplest options is to convert the fpga configuration file into hex format.

    Question 2

    Use the remote update core to trigger a fpga reconfiguration
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    10 years ago

    Thank you Cris,

    today we tried to write a program into the EPCS16 with a .hexout, .rpd and a.rbf-file without any success.

    The code works when we program the .jic-file into the EPCS16 using the USB-Blaster.

    With the mirocontroller we are able to erase the flash and we can also write the

    hexout-, rpd- and rbf-files and read these files from the flash.

    What else can be the reason why it does not work with any of these files?

    Would be very nice if someone of you knows any solution or can give us a hint!

    Thank you.

    Best regards,

    Patrick