Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition User Guide: Block-Based Design

ID 683247
Date 12/16/2019
Public

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1.3.3. Team-Based Design Methodology Overview

In a team-based design methodology, a team lead sets up the top-level project and constraints (including the top-level clock, I/O, and inter-partition constraints), and determines which portions of the design that other team members develop.

Team-based design combines a top-down methodology (where all developers must be aware of the top-level project structure and constraints), with elements of bottom-up flows (where developers work separately on lower-level blocks and integrate them into the top-level). In the top-down methodology, you can use incremental block-based compilation to preserve the core logic with the Preservation Level partition setting, or another developer working on a copy of the same project preserves the partitions and provides a .qdb file.

The project lead must ensure that the top-level project contains all the interfaces for the design blocks that other team leaders add later. Each team member then develops their portion of the design, and may specify other constraints specific to their design partition. The team members implement the individual design blocks in the context of the top-level design, to avoid integration issues later. As the project nears completion, the team lead then integrates partitions from team members into the top-level project, accounting for any new constraints for the imported partitions.

Individual team members can optionally work on a copy of the same top-level project. The team member creates a partition for their respective design block, compiles the design, and then exports the partition. The team lead then integrates each design partition into the top-level design.

To simplify full design optimization, allow full-chip placement and routing of the partition at the top-level. Export and reuse only the synthesized snapshot, unless the top-level design requires optimized post-fit results.