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5 years ago

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Displaying Memory Contents in Signal Tap

How do you examine memory content with Signal Tap?

bit [ 11 : 0 ] colorRGB[ 7 : 0 ];

When I add the above as a signal, I only see a high state representation. I can't find a Bus Display Format for memory or arrays at all.

https://i.imgur.com/ObhIcSU.png <- and where did the image/picture uploader icon go?

I would like to see what the contents of 12bits are at a particular index. How do I do this with Signal Tap?

I'm using Quartus Prime Lite Edition 20.

sstrell
5 years ago
Yes, select colorRGB.data_a to select the whole bus.

3 Replies

sstrell
Super Contributor
5 years ago
You should be tapping the 12-bit output of the array (the read side of the memory). It's not clear from your waveform screenshot whether you are doing that or not. Can you show how you have the node list set up on the Signal Tap configuration tab?

If your memory is not implemented using memory blocks (using logic blocks instead), then in theory you could tap each memory location, though it would require diving into the Node Finder to find the appropriate signals. If it's implemented using memory blocks, you would not be able to tap into the memory blocks themselves since there are no wire connections coming out of the memory blocks for each individual bit.

A better method would be to tap the write side of the memory and the address lines to see what data is going into which location and then look at the read side along with the address lines to see what data comes out.
- SparkyNZ
  Contributor
  5 years ago
  Hi. Here's a link to what I'm seeing in the Node Finder:
  https://i.imgur.com/z3MbgzY.png
  So should I be including colorRGB.data_a[0] thru colorRGB.data_a[11] in my case?
  (Sorry I cannot check - I have to go to work )
  - sstrell
    Super Contributor
    5 years ago
    Yes, select colorRGB.data_a to select the whole bus.