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DE1-SoC Computer System
with Nios II
For Quartus II 15.0
1
Introduction
This document describes a computer system that can be implemented on the Altera DE1-SoC development and
education board. This system, called the
DE1-SoC Computer
, is intended for use in experiments on computer orga-
nization and embedded systems. To support such experiments, the system contains embedded processors, memory,
audio and video devices, and some simple I/O peripherals. The FPGA programming file that implements this system,
as well as its design source files, can be obtained from the University Program section of Altera’s web site.
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DE1-SoC Computer Contents
A block diagram of the DE1-SoC Computer system is shown in Figure
1
. As indicated in the figure, the components
in this system are implemented utilizing both the FPGA and the
Hard Processor System
(HPS) inside Altera’s
Cyclone
R
°
V SoC chip. The FPGA implements two Nios II processors and several peripheral ports: memory, timer
modules, audio-in/out, video-in/out, PS/2, analog-to-digital, infrared receive/transmit, and parallel ports connected
to switches and lights. The HPS comprises an ARM Cortex A9 dual-core processor and a set of peripheral devices.
Instructions for using the HPS and ARM processor are provided in a separate document, called
DE1-SoC Computer
System with ARM Cortex-A9
.
2.1
FPGA Components
As shown in Figure
1
many of the components in the DE1-SoC Computer are implemented inside the FPGA in the
Cyclone V SoC chip. Several of these components are described in this section, and the others are presented in
Section
4
.
2.2
Nios II Processor
The Altera Nios
R
°
II processor is a 32-bit CPU that can be implemented in an Altera FPGA device. Three versions
of the Nios II processor are available, designated economy (/e), standard (/s), and fast (/f). The DE1-SoC Computer
includes two Nios II processors, both of which are the fast version.
An overview of the Nios II processor can be found in the document
Introduction to the Altera Nios II Processor
,
which is provided in the University Program’s web site. An easy way to begin working with the DE1-SoC Computer
and the Nios II processor is to make use of a utility called the
Altera Monitor Program
. It provides an easy way to
assemble/compile Nios II programs written in either assembly language or the C language. The Monitor Program,
which can be downloaded from Altera’s web site, is an application program that runs on the host computer connected
to the DE1-SoC board. The Monitor Program can be used to control the execution of code on Nios II, list (and
Altera Corporation - University Program
2015
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