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Altera_Forum
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12 years ago

DSP Builder Advanced vs Mixed mode (Basic + Advanced)

Hi I am just starting with Altera and I am thinking that all new designs should be done using the Advanced Blockset as the Basic blocks will be made obsolete by Altera. However, I like the control the basic blockset gives like setting pins assignments, the signal compiler block to compile and download to target, subsystem builder and I/O blocks for some of the dev kits.

The Advanced blockset has not of these and so now you are expected to go into Quartus to compile and use the Assignment Editor to assign pins etc.

My workflow is to go from Simulink to the FPGA directly and so I am thinking of using the Mixed mode with blocks from both the Basic and Advanced Blockset. Do folks here have any comments / feedback regarding this approach. I know that I still run the risk of the Basic blocks being made obsolete but I cannot see a way to do everything from the Advanced Blockset without going thru Quartus.

2 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    12 years ago

    You can't mix the blocksets as such: the Advanced blockset design can only be a single (hierarchical) subsystem within a standard blockset wrapper.

    The pin assignments may be doable in other ways, although more manually, such as a *_assignments.tcl file which gets included when Quartus is run interactively (via the Run Quartus block which calls run_quartus_block_open.m).

    Alternatively DSPBA_Features.additionalQuartusTclSettings is a string that is inserted into the .tcl file after all the other set_global_assignment calls.

    There isn't a download to target flow yet.

    Not sure about any advantages of Subsystem builder.

    I think of it as Standard block-set being more WYSIWYG and Advanced being more HLS - i depends on the style that suits you; but I'd use Advanced block-set wherever possible.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    12 years ago

    Thanks for the tips sharkster. I will stick to the Advanced Blockset.

    I got an automatic MATLAB script based flow to download to the target using the Quartus command line tools. The only missing part is how can I influence the .qsf file from Simulink to modify the pin assignments. Right now, I am doing it manually and it seems to be working. I am looking at this further to see how I can change the .qsf automatically before using quartus_cmd.

    Regards.