Altera Max10 FPGA User manual

Board Update Portal based on NIOS II
Processor Using the MAX 10 FPGA
Development Kit
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Revision history
Version
Author
Date
Changes
Reason
1.0
Martin Chen
6/1/2015
Initial release

Table of Contents
Revision history.............................................................................................................................2
Table of Contents..........................................................................................................................3
Overview .......................................................................................................................................4
Theory of Operation......................................................................................................................5
Simple Demo Setup......................................................................................................................6
How to recompile the hardware build ...........................................................................................8
Convert SOF file to POF file .........................................................................................................9
How to recompile the software build...........................................................................................10
Convert NIOS executable file to .flash file..................................................................................11
Program images into On-chip CFM flash and external QSPI flash ...........................................12

Overview
This example design is a web-server based board update portal (BUP) design which contains
a Nios® II processor, a Triple Speed Ethernet media access control (MAC) MegaCore® and a
DDR3 MegaCore®. It allows you to remotely update a FPGA system over Ethernet, for an
example, it can be used to update the firmware of an embedded FPGA system. The design is
based on Ethernet A port on MAX 10 FPGA development kit, please download and install the
BTS installer for more details about BUP design.
The following external parts are needed to demonstrate the design example:
1. MAX10 10M50DA FPGA Development kit
2. Mini-USB cable for programming MAX 10 device
3. Quartus v15.0 or later
Recompile the design example
Recompile the software build
Use NIOS command shell to download SOF and ELF file and get IP address info
Quartus v15.0.0/145 or later is required for this design example. Please refer to the
Altera Download Center for information on updates
4. IMPORTANT: only use the 12V, 2A AC adapter that came with this kit. Do not use
other power supplies from other Altera kits


Figure 1: Max10 FPGA Development Kit

Theory of Operation
Nios® II Core
AVMM
Master
UART
AVMM
Master
QSPI Flash DDR3 SDRAM On-Chip Memory
(Optional)
Ethernet Core SGDMA TX SGDMA RX
On-Chip
Description Memory
Figure 2: BUP design example block diagram
The Nios® II processor is used to implement a web server in MAX 10 FPGA device. Please
see application note AN429: Remote Configuration Over Ethernet with the Nios® II Processor
(PDF) to learn more about remote update. Also, more information about Embedded Peripheral
IP can be found at IP Peripheral User Guide.

Simple Demo Setup
1. Connect the power cord to the power plug of the kit
2. Connect a mini USB from your PC/laptop to the J12 USB connector (labeled as USB 1 on
the silkscreen) on the top left of the kit
3. Connect Ethernet cable to Ethernet port A (the bottom one)
Figure 3: BUP test platform
4. Open NIOS command shell and change to project root directory
5. Type “nios2-configure-sof --cable 1 --device 1 master_image/m10_rgmii.sof;sleep
5;nios2-download -g –r software_examples/factory_image/web_server.elf;nios2-
terminal;”
6. Check whether it gets corresponding IP address as expected

Figure 4: Link establishment and IP address acquirement

How to recompile the hardware build
Please follow the steps on the Design Store web page to extract and install the m10_rgmii
platform file. The following steps describe how to setup a project in Quartus II software in order
to configure the MAX10 FPGA device with the m10_rgmii (BUP) demo design.
1. Launch Quartus II software and open the project top.qpf using File->Open Project
2. Compile the project by clicking the button
3. Launch the Quartus II programmer from the Tools menu or alternatively by clicking the
button
4. Download the .sof file output_files/top.sof and program the device using the programmer
as previously described
Figure 5: Link establishment and IP address acquirement

Convert SOF file to POF file
Please follow the steps on how to convert SOF file to POF file for MAX 10 FPGA internal
configuration solution. For dual configuration feature, please turn to the "Selecting the Internal
Configuration Scheme" section of the User Guide for more details.
1. Launch Quartus II software and open the Convert Programming File tool
2. Select Internal Configuration mode
3. Add Sof Page
4. Add file
5. Generate POF file for output_files/top.sof
Figure 6: Link establishment and IP address acquirement

How to recompile the software build
Please follow the steps on how to recompile the software build under different conditions.
1. Compile the software build without any modifications
a) Open NIOS command shell (v15.0.0/145 or later) and change to the directory: <BUP
Root Directory> \software_examples\app
b) Type in the command “./create-this-app”
c) The compilation will take you a few minutes (it depends on your PC performance), and
generate an output file named web_server.elf
2. Recompile the software build with some modifications of BSP file
a) Open NIOS command shell (v15.0.0/145 or later) and change to the BSP directory:
<BUP Root Directory> \software_examples\bsp
b) Type in the command “make”
c) Change to the directory <BUP Root Directory> \software_examples\app after BSP
recompilation
d) Type in the command “make”
e) The compilation will take you a few minutes (it depends on your PC performance), and
generate an output file named web_server.elf
3. Recompile the software build with some modifications of APP files
a) Open NIOS command shell (v15.0.0/145 or later) and change to the directory <BUP
Root Directory> \software_examples\app
b) Type in the command “make”
c) The compilation will take you a few minutes (it depends on your PC performance), and
generate an output file named web_server.elf

Convert NIOS executable file to .flash file
You should convert executable file to .flash file so that you can program it into QSPI flash with
BUP build, you should use the elf2flash utility to create the flash image:
1. Open NIOS command shell (v15.0.0/145 or later)
2. Type in the command “elf2flash --base=0x24000000 --end=0x27FFFFFF --
reset=0x24430000 --input=[ELF_FILE_LOCATION] --output=[FLASH_FILE] --
boot=$SOPC_KIT_NIOS2/components/altera_nios2/boot_loader_cfi.srec”
Note:
1) Base offset address and end offset address are the QSPI flash addresses assigned in the
BUP Qsys component
2) Reset offset address stand for Flash memory base address (0x2400_0000) + Reset Vector
Offset (0x0043_0000)
3) Reset Vector Offset address (0x4300_0000) is assigned to factory software block by
default, please refer the User Guide for more info about flash memory mapping
Figure 7: BUP Qsys component offset address info

Program images into On-chip CFM flash and external QSPI flash
The following steps describe how to program FPGA image into MAX 10 FPGA On-chip CFM
flash for internal configuration and software image(s) into on-board QSPI flash.
How to program the factory images into MAX 10 FPGA device and Quad SPI flash:
1. Program *\software_examples\factory_images\dual_boot_image.pof into Configuration
Flash Memory (CFMs) via programmer
2. Change SW2 switch 2 to the ON position (0)
3. Make sure Ethernet cable is connected to port A (the bottom one)
4. Power cycle the board or push S5 button to boot up from BUP build (BUP A)
5. Open NIOS command shell at *\altera\15.0\nios2eds\, e.g. double click "Nios II Command
Shell.bat"
6. Change directory to *\software_examples\factory_images\
7. Type "nios2-download --cable n* --device 1 -g -r ./web_server.elf; nios2-terminal;"
8. Check whether it gets corresponding IP address
9. Launch IE and type the IP address got from step #g in the address bar (e.g.
http://192.168.1.100, Change Proxy Server setting if needed)
10. If it turns out be the MAX 10 FPGA development kit Webpage, please click the bottom-right
"Factory Restore" link to restore factory build, otherwise, it should be the raw page for
factory build programming
Figure 8: MAX 10 FPGA development kit Webpage

Figure 9: Factory build restoration page
11. Load "*\software_examples\factory_images\m10_fpga_html.zip" in "Webpages File Name"
column and "*\software_examples\factory_images\ext_flash.flash" in "Software File Name"
column and then upload them
Figure 10: Raw page for factory recovery
12. Check whether it uploads successfully or not
13. Power cycle the board again
14. Type "nios2-terminal;" in NIOS command shell again to check whether it can get IP
address as expected
15. Launch IE and type its IP address in the address bar to see whether the webpage is
working or not
Note:
1) n* stands for USB cable number, e.g. "cable 1"
2) Dual-boot images:
Dual compressed image #0: BUP A build
Dual compressed image #1: GPIO (bts_config) build which is also available on Design
Store
Please turn to the "Selecting the Internal Configuration Scheme" section of the User
Guide for Dual Configuration feature
3) Ethernet Port A is used by the factory BUP build by default