EXPERIMENT #7 SOC with NIOS II in SystemVerilog

7.1
ECE 385
EXPERIMENT #7
SOC with NIOS II in SystemVerilog
I. OBJECTIVE
In this experiment you will learn the basic capability of the NIOS II processor as the
foundation of your System-On-Chip (SOC) projects. You will learn the fundamentals of
memory-mapped I/Os and implement a simple SoC interfacing with peripherals such as the onboard switches and LEDs.
II. INTRODUCTION
The goal of this lab is creating a NIOS II based system on the Altera Cyclone IV device.
The NIOS II is an IP based 32-bit CPU which can programmed using a high-level language (in
this class, we’ll be using C). A typical use case scenario is to have the NIOS II be the system
controller and handle tasks which do not need to be high performance (for example, user
interface, data input and output) while an accelerator peripheral in the FPGA logic (designed
using SystemVerilog) handles the high-performance operations.
The Introduction to NIOSII and Qsys will give you a walkthrough of the Platform
Designer tool, which is used to instantiate IP blocks (including the NIOS II). We will set up a
minimal NIOS II device with an SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM) controller and a PIO
(Parallel I/O) block to blink some LEDs using a C program running on the NIOS II to confirm it
is working. You will then be asked to write a program which reads 8-bit numbers from the
switches on the DE2 board and sums into an accumulator, displaying the output using the green
LEDs via the NIOS II. This will involve instantiating another PIO block to read data from the
switches and modifying the C program to input data, add, and display the data.
Please read the INTRODUCTION TO NIOS II AND QSYS (INQ. 1-22).
Your top-level circuit should have at least the following inputs and outputs:
General Interface:
Inputs
KEY[0] : logic -- For Qsys-mapped hardware reset purposes
KEY[2] : logic -- For accumulator initialization (‘Reset’)
KEY[3] : logic -- For accumulator accumulation (‘Accumulate’)
CLOCK_50 : logic -- 50 MHz clock input
7.2
LEDG : logic [7:0] -- LED display of the accumulator
SW : logic [7:0] -- Switches for the accumulation input
SDRAM Interface for Nios II Software:
 Bidirectional ports (inout)
DRAM_DQ : logic [31:0] -- SDRAM Data 32 Bits
Outputs
DRAM_ADDR : logic [12:0] -- SDRAM Address 13 Bits
DRAM_BA : logic [1:0] -- SDRAM Bank Address 2 Bits
DRAM_DQM : logic [3:0] -- SDRAM Data Mast 4 Bits
DRAM_RAS_N : logic; -- SDRAM Row Address Strobe
DRAM_CAS_N : logic; -- SDRAM Column Address Strobe
DRAM_CKE : logic; -- SDRAM Clock Enable
DRAM_WE_N : logic; -- SDRAM Write Enable
DRAM_CS_N : logic; -- SDRAM Chip Select
DRAM_CLK : logic; -- SDRAM Clock
NOTE: For debugging, you may add LEDs, hex displays, switches, and/or buttons to the
above lists.
III. PRE-LAB
A. Download the provided codes for Lab 7 on the ECE 385 course website. Follow the INQ
tutorial to complete the NIOS II, memory, and the controller setup by performing the tasks as
described in the tutorial. Your LEDG[0] should start blinking on your board as soon as the
binary has been transmitted to the NIOS II CPU.
B. Modify the hardware and the software setup of the Lab 7 project to perform accumulation on
the LED using the values from the switches as inputs. The green LEDs should always display
the value of the accumulator in binary and the accumulator should be 0 on startup (all LEDs
off). The accumulator should overflow at 255+1 to 0. (255 + 1 → 0, 255 + 2 → 1, etc.)
Pressing ‘Reset’ (KEY[2]) at any time clears the accumulator to 0 and updates the display
accordingly (turns all the LEDs off). Pressing ‘Accumulate’ (KEY[3]) loads the number
represented by the switches into the CPU, adding it to the accumulator. The 8 right-most
switches (SW [7:0]) are read as an 8-bit, unsigned, binary number with up being 1, down
being 0. Push buttons should only react once to a single actuation.
C. Answer the italicized questions and fill in the table from the INQ tutorial. Be prepared to
give answers to any of the questions from your TA when demoing. This is to ensure that you
try to research what the settings do instead of simply trying to “make the picture look like
your screen”.
7.3
Hints: Unit test the input and output. The output should already work, but make sure you can
turn on and off every segment. If you have problems, check the schematic for the DE2, and make
sure you are toggling the correct pins.
For this, and the rest of the class, you may use the C standard libraries (stdlib.h) or the C++
equivalents, this can save you a lot of work when coding in C.
You will need to bring the following to the lab:
1. Your code for the Lab. You can bring the code to the lab on a USB storage device, floppy
disk, CD, FTP or using any other method.
2. Block diagram of your design with components, ports, and interconnections labeled.
IV. LAB
Follow the Lab 7 demo information on the course website.
V. POST-LAB
1.) Refer to the Design Resources and Statistics in IQT.30-32 and complete the following
design statistics table.
LUT
DSP
Memory (BRAM)
Flip-Flop
Frequency
Static Power
Dynamic Power
Total Power
Document any problems you encountered and your solutions to them, and a short
conclusion.
7.4
VI. REPORT
In your lab report, should hand in the following:
• An introduction;
• Written description of the operation of your circuit;
• Written purpose and operation of each module (include lab7_soc.v);
• Schematic block diagram with components, ports, and interconnections labeled;
• Answers to the italicized questions and fill in the table from the INQ tutorial;
• Answers to post-lab questions;
• A conclusion regarding what worked and what didn’t, with explanations of any possible
causes and the potential remedies.