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Chapter 3
Using the Starter Kit
In this chapter we introduce the important components on the Cyclone V GX Starter Kit.
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The procedure of downloading a circuit from a host computer to the Cyclone V GX Starter Kit
board is described in the tutorial Quartus II Introduction. This tutorial can be found under the
\tutorials folder on the Cyclone V GX Starter Kit System CD. You are encouraged to read the
tutorial first, and treat the information below as a short reference.
The Cyclone V GX Starter Kit board contains a serial configuration device that stores configuration
data for the Cyclone V GX FPGA. This configuration data is automatically loaded from the
configuration device into the FPGA when powered on. Using the Quartus II software, it is possible
to reconfigure the FPGA at any time, and it is also possible to change the non-volatile data that is
stored in the serial configuration device. Both types of programming methods are described below.
1.
JTAG programming: In this method of programming, named after the IEEE standards Joint
Test Action Group, the configuration bit stream is downloaded directly into the Cyclone GX
FPGA. The FPGA will retain this configuration as long as power is applied to the board; the
configuration information will be lost when the power is turned off.
2.
AS programming: In this method, called Active Serial programming, the configuration bit
stream is downloaded into the Altera EPCQ256 serial configuration device. It provides
non-volatile storage of the bit stream, so that the information is retained even when the power
supply to the Cyclone V GX Starter Kit board is turned off. When the board’s power is turned
on, the configuration data in the EPCQ256 device is automatically loaded into the Cyclone V
GX FPGA.
JTAG Chain on Cyclone V GX Starter Kit board
To use JTAG interface for configuring FPGA device, the JTAG chain on Cyclone V GX Starter Kit
must form a closed loop that allows Quartus II programmer to detect FPGA device.
illustrates the JTAG chain on Cyclone V GX Starter Kit board. Shorting pin1 and pin2 on JP2 can
