How can I write the application image boot address into the data_in[23..0] port in the altremote_update for Arria® V, Cyclone® V, and Stratix® V devices to address the entire memory space in an EPCQ256 device?

Description

Arria® V, Cyclone® V, and Stratix® V device's remote update circuitry can only handle 24-bit addressing. For configuration devices such as EPCS128 or EPCQ128 and smaller density configuration devices using 24-bit addressing, the 24-bit PGM[23:0] field corresponds to all 24 bits of the active serial starting address. However, for EPCQ256 devices that use 32-bit addressing, the PGM[23:0] field corresponds to the 24 MSB of the active serial starting address. Thus the 32-bit address would be {pgm[23:0], 8’b0}. 

 

Resolution

In the altremote_update module in the Quartus® II software version 13.0 or earlier, the data_in[] bus is 24-bit width. Thus for EPCQ256 devices, you will need to truncate the lowest 8 LSB when writing the application image boot address during the factory image. 

For example, if the boot address is 0x00020000, then you need to set the 0x000200 into data_in[23..0] of the megafunction. 

For example, if the boot address is 0x01C00000, then you need to set the 0x01C000 into data_in[23..0] of the megafunction. 

 

From Quartus II software version 13.1 and onwards, the data_in[] bus widths are as follows:

• 24-bit bus width when using a 3-byte addressing configuration device, for example, EPCS128.

• 32-bit bus width when using a 4-byte addressing configuration device, for example, EPCQ256.

Thus in Quartus II software version 13.1 and onwards, you no longer need to truncate the lowest 8 LSB when writing the application image boot address during the factory image.