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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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14 years ago

same wire to 2 bidir io pins

Hi,

I have a bidir pin ( MDIO)

it is connected to a wire and then the wire connects to inside the sub modules.

How can I make this wire connect to another bidir pin?

If I try quartus doesnt synthsize or it drops it off and doesnt connect it.

please help.

regards,

j

5 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    I don't believe that it is possible to directly connect one bidir pin to another bidir without issues. There are ways that you can cheat this in special cases, but generally does not work well. (expect glitching on the output).

    Is it possible to put down an actual wire external to the FPGA to suit your purpose? (more information on your application may be helpful)
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    --- Quote Start ---

    How can I make this wire connect to another bidir pin?

    --- Quote End ---

    If you think "in hardware" you'll realize that this isn't possible. Bidirectional pins refer to combination of three-state driver and input buffer. You can only manipulate the signal behind these drivers/buffers.

    The only synthesizable I/O wire connects an input to an output pin.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    the ipcore inside the FPGA at lower level has a bidir output called MDIO.

    This MDIO, I connect to a wire and then the wire connects to the Bidir pin on FPGA( say EXT_MDIO)

    Now I want another Bidir pin on FPGA which is a copy of EXT_MDIO Bidir pin.

    can I do that?
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    There is only one way to do this as far as I know:

    Solder a wire from one bidir pin to the other bidir pin. This is the only way to guarantee that both pins are an exact copy.

    Why exactly are you trying this in the first place? I ask because it may be a special case where there is a work-around.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    --- Quote Start ---

    Now I want another Bidir pin on FPGA which is a copy of EXT_MDIO Bidir pin. can I do that?

    --- Quote End ---

    Referring to post# 3, think in "hardware".

    You have two input signals from two bidir pins. You can route them to one internal bidir signal, if you have a select signal that controls a 2:1 MUX between external and internal input ports. In addition, the internal output enable signal for the bidir port must be accessible.