ALT2GXB Help................

Hi

I am doing a project on the serial communication using the transceivers present in the Stratix II GX ep2sgx90ff1508c3

For this i am using the HSMC connector slot available on the board for the loopback operation.

SO now I have 6 TX-RX channels on HSMA & 4 TX-RX channels on HSMB connections..

If I insert the HSMC cards(connectors) that is attached here in the HSMC slot the loopback operation should work properly right???

Or if any other hardware need to be connected like cables to HSMC connectors as told in the High Speed Mezzanine Card (HSMC)

Specification link:www.altera.com/literature/ds/hsmc_spec.pdf ???

Apart from assigning the TXDATA & RXDATA pin locations that are available on the HSMC connectors any other signals should be

assigned while doing pin assignment. I only assigned the TXDATA & RXDATA pin locations thats it....

Should I assigned the signals like HSMA_CLK_IN0,JTAG_TDO,JTAG_TMS,HSMA_D0-D3,HSMA_JTAG_TDO,JTAG_TCK,HSMA_SDA....

I am new to the HSMC connectors please any one who knows about it ........

please reply.......

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When I run the GXB on the hardware the recieved data is different from the transmitted data..

Actually I gave the output of the counter(16bit counter running at 312.5MHz) as the transmitter input to the GXB....

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I didn't look at your design files, but I'll tell you what you should have.

The TX-to-RX path is serial, so whatever you send in parallel at the transmitter can be misaligned by any number of bits when received at the receiver. The receivers have word-alignment and bit-slipping controls. You need to first use those to align the receiver to your transmitted 8-bit/16-bit/32-bit data, and only then will your transmit data and receive data match. For example, you could send the static pattern ABCDh, and bit-slip at the receiver until you start receiving ABCDh, and then you would switch the transmitter to your counter.

Cheers,

Dave

Dear Sir,

Thank you very much for the reply..........

I want to know how to make the receiver being aligned to the txdata for the first time...

can you suggest some documents which can guide more about this alignment..........

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I didn't look at your design files, but I'll tell you what you should have.

The TX-to-RX path is serial, so whatever you send in parallel at the transmitter can be misaligned by any number of bits when received at the receiver. The receivers have word-alignment and bit-slipping controls. You need to first use those to align the receiver to your transmitted 8-bit/16-bit/32-bit data, and only then will your transmit data and receive data match. For example, you could send the static pattern ABCDh, and bit-slip at the receiver until you start receiving ABCDh, and then you would switch the transmitter to your counter.

Cheers,

Dave

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Create a Modelsim simulation with the transceiver and test the different control signals in that.

Then in hardware use SignalTap II to compare the simulation to the hardware. SignalTap will not be able to probe the high-speed SERDES lanes and internal GXB signals, but you will be able to see how the received parallel output pattern is bit-shifted relative to the transmit pattern.

Start with some simple patterns, eg. 5555h will be received as either 5555h or AAAAh, and if you assert the bit-slip control, you can change (bit-slip) the pattern.

There are some transceiver debug application notes and online webinars. Look on the Altera web site.

Cheers,

Dave

I will try the Simulation of the transceiver,,,,,,,,,,,,

A small doubt...Do the transceiver tool kit available in the quartus II is applicable to the Stratix II GX devices also ???....

Can we characterize the transceiver features when we are using the transceivers along with the HSMC loopback connections.........

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Create a Modelsim simulation with the transceiver and test the different control signals in that.

Then in hardware use SignalTap II to compare the simulation to the hardware. SignalTap will not be able to probe the high-speed SERDES lanes and internal GXB signals, but you will be able to see how the received parallel output pattern is bit-shifted relative to the transmit pattern.

Start with some simple patterns, eg. 5555h will be received as either 5555h or AAAAh, and if you assert the bit-slip control, you can change (bit-slip) the pattern.

There are some transceiver debug application notes and online webinars. Look on the Altera web site.

Cheers,

Dave

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Do the transceiver tool kit available in the quartus II is applicable to the Stratix II GX devices also ???

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I am not using the Stratix II GX, so I do not know.

However, for the Stratix IV devices, it was not particularly difficult to implement the same functionality directly; using Avalon interfaces in the hardware and System Console Tcl scripts for access.

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Can we characterize the transceiver features when we are using the transceivers along with the HSMC loopback connections.........

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Sure. Samtec also sell HSMC-to-SMA adapters for about $500 each. They're useful for interfacing to different boards, and they allow you to test links with DC blocks etc.

Cheers,

Dave

I guess if we use only HSMC connectors, we can't characterize transceiver using the transceiver tool kit of quartus....

right.........

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I am not using the Stratix II GX, so I do not know.

However, for the Stratix IV devices, it was not particularly difficult to implement the same functionality directly; using Avalon interfaces in the hardware and System Console Tcl scripts for access.

Sure. Samtec also sell HSMC-to-SMA adapters for about $500 each. They're useful for interfacing to different boards, and they allow you to test links with DC blocks etc.

Cheers,

Dave

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I guess if we use only HSMC connectors, we can't characterize transceiver using the transceiver tool kit of quartus....

right.........

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Why do you think that?

What do you want to characterize?

If you want to probe signals with an oscilloscope, you can do that on the BGA vias. But that does not really tell you much at high frequencies, unless you have a fancy scope with equivalent equalizer settings.

Cheers,

Dave

Dear Sir..........

If possible I want to check the actual rate of the transceiver...

Features like eye diagram...bit error rate....

How we can do............