Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide: Power Analysis and Optimization

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ID 683174
Date 10/04/2021
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Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. Power Analysis 2. Power Optimization 3. Power Analysis and Optimization Document Archive A. Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guides
1. Power Analysis x
1.1. Power Analysis Tools 1.2. Running the Power Analyzer 1.3. Specifying Power Analyzer Input 1.4. Viewing Power Analysis Reports 1.5. Power Analysis in Modular Design Flows 1.6. Scripting Support 1.7. Power Analysis Revision History
1.3. Specifying Power Analyzer Input x
1.3.1. Settings for Power Analysis 1.3.2. Specifying Signal Activity Data 1.3.3. Specifying the Default Toggle Rate 1.3.4. Specifying Toggle Rates for Specific Nodes 1.3.5. Avoiding Simulation Node Name Match
1.3.2. Specifying Signal Activity Data x
1.3.2.1. Using Simulation Signal Activity Data in Power Analysis 1.3.2.2. Signal Activities from RTL (Functional) Simulation, Supplemented by Vectorless Estimation 1.3.2.3. Signal Activities from Vectorless Estimation and User-Supplied Input Pin Activities 1.3.2.4. Signal Activities from User Defaults Only
1.3.2.1. Using Simulation Signal Activity Data in Power Analysis x
1.3.2.1.1. Generating Signal Activity Data for Power Analysis 1.3.2.1.2. Generating Standard Delay Output for Power Analysis 1.3.2.1.3. Simulation Glitch Filtering
1.3.2.2. Signal Activities from RTL (Functional) Simulation, Supplemented by Vectorless Estimation x
1.3.2.2.1. RTL Simulation Limitation
1.3.4. Specifying Toggle Rates for Specific Nodes x
1.3.4.1. Clock Node Toggle Rates
1.5. Power Analysis in Modular Design Flows x
1.5.1. Complete Design Simulation Power Analysis Flow 1.5.2. Modular Design Simulation Power Analysis Flow 1.5.3. Multiple Simulation Power Analysis Flow 1.5.4. Overlapping Simulation Power Analysis Flow 1.5.5. Partial Design Simulation Power Analysis Flow 1.5.6. Vectorless Estimation Power Analysis Flow
1.5.5. Partial Design Simulation Power Analysis Flow x
1.5.5.1. Specifying Start and End Time for Signal Activity Calculations
1.6. Scripting Support x
1.6.1. Running the Power Analyzer from the Command–Line
2. Power Optimization x
2.1. Factors Affecting Power Consumption 2.2. Design Space Explorer II for Power-Driven Optimization 2.3. Power-Driven Compilation 2.4. Design Guidelines 2.5. Power Optimization Advisor 2.6. Power Optimization Revision History
2.1. Factors Affecting Power Consumption x
2.1.1. Design Activity and Power Analysis 2.1.2. Device Selection 2.1.3. Environmental Conditions 2.1.4. Device Resource Usage 2.1.5. Signal Activity
2.1.4. Device Resource Usage x
2.1.4.1. Number, Type, and Loading of I/O Pins 2.1.4.2. Number and Type of Hard Logic Blocks 2.1.4.3. Number and Type of Global Signals
2.1.5. Signal Activity x
2.1.5.1. Toggle Rate 2.1.5.2. Static Probability
2.3. Power-Driven Compilation x
2.3.1. Power-Driven Synthesis 2.3.2. Power-Driven Fitter 2.3.3. Area-Driven Synthesis 2.3.4. Gate-Level Register Retiming 2.3.5. Intel® Quartus® Prime Compiler Settings 2.3.6. Assignment Editor Options
2.3.1. Power-Driven Synthesis x
2.3.1.1. Memory Block Optimization 2.3.1.2. Power-Aware Logic Mapping 2.3.1.3. Power-Aware Memory Balancing
2.4. Design Guidelines x
2.4.1. Clock Power Management 2.4.2. Pipelining and Retiming 2.4.3. Architectural Optimization 2.4.4. I/O Power Guidelines 2.4.5. Dynamically Controlled On-Chip Terminations (OCT) 2.4.6. Memory Optimization (M20K/MLAB) 2.4.7. DDR Memory Controller Settings 2.4.8. DSP Implementation 2.4.9. Reducing High-Speed Tile (HST) Usage 2.4.10. Unused Transceiver Channels 2.4.11. Periphery Power reduction XCVR Settings
2.4.1. Clock Power Management x
2.4.1.1. Clock Enable in Memory Blocks 2.4.1.2. LAB Clock Power 2.4.1.3. Clock Enables 2.4.1.4. Global Signals 2.4.1.5. Merge Clocks
2.4.1.2. LAB Clock Power x
2.4.1.2.1. LAB-Wide Clock Enable Example
2.4.1.4. Global Signals x
2.4.1.4.1. Viewing Clock Details in the Chip Planner
2.4.6. Memory Optimization (M20K/MLAB) x
2.4.6.1. Implementation 2.4.6.2. Rd/Wr Enables
2.4.11. Periphery Power reduction XCVR Settings x
2.4.11.1. Transceiver Settings 2.4.11.2. I/O Current Strength
2.5. Power Optimization Advisor x
2.5.1. Set Realistic Timing Constraints 2.5.2. Appropriate Device Family 2.5.3. Dynamic Power 2.5.4. Static Power 2.5.5. Appropriate I/O Standards 2.5.6. Use RAM Blocks 2.5.7. Shut Down RAM Blocks 2.5.8. Clock Enables on Logic 2.5.9. Pipeline Logic to Reduce Glitching
2.5.1. Set Realistic Timing Constraints x
2.5.1.1. Find Timing Information
1. Power Analysis
2. Power Optimization
3. Power Analysis and Optimization Document Archive
A. Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guides

1.5. Power Analysis in Modular Design Flows

In modular or hierarchical design flows you develop each design block separately, and then instantiate these blocks into a higher-level design to form a complete design. The Intel Quartus Prime software supports simulation and power analysis of the top-level design or individual blocks with the design.

Figure 15. Modular Simulation Flow


You can associate multiple .vcd simulation output files with specific node names, enabling the integration of partial design simulations into a complete design power analysis. When specifying multiple .vcd files for a node, more than one simulation file can contain signal activity information for the same signal. In those cases, the Power Analyzer follows these rules:

  • When you apply multiple .vcd files to the same design node, the Power Analyzer calculates the signal activity as the equal-weight arithmetic average of each .vcd.
  • When you apply multiple simulation files to design nodes at different levels in the design hierarchy, the signal activity in the power analysis derives from the simulation file that applies to the most specific design node.

The following figure shows an example of a hierarchical design:

Figure 16. Example Hierarchical Design


The top-level module of the design, called Top, consists of three 8b/10b decoders, followed by a mux. The software encodes the output of the mux to produce the final output of the top-level module. An error-handling module handles any 8b/10b decoding errors. The Top module contains the top-level entity of the design and any logic not defined as part of another module. The design file for the top-level module can be a wrapper for the hierarchical entities or can contain its own logic.

The following usage scenarios show common ways that you can simulate the design and import the .vcd into the Power Analyzer:

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