Advanced Link Analyzer: User Guide

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ID 683448
Date 4/27/2022
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Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. System Requirements and Installation Guide 2. Functional Description 3. Tutorial: PCI Express* 8GT 4. Document Revision History for Advanced Link Analyzer User Guide
1. System Requirements and Installation Guide x
1.1. System Requirements 1.2. Installation 1.3. Program and File Types 1.4. Accessing the User Guide
2. Functional Description x
2.1. Advanced Link Analyzer Control Module 2.2. Advanced Link Analyzer Data Viewer Module 2.3. Advanced Link Analyzer Channel Viewer Module 2.4. Advanced Link Analyzer Batch Simulation Controller 2.5. Advanced Link Analyzer Channel Designer
2.1. Advanced Link Analyzer Control Module x
2.1.1. Constructing Communication Links in the Link Designer Module 2.1.2. Link and Simulation Setting 2.1.3. Transmitter Setting 2.1.4. Receiver Setting 2.1.5. IBIS-AMI Wrapper 2.1.6. Channel Setting 2.1.7. Batch Channel Simulation Configuration 2.1.8. Crosstalk Aggressor Transmitter Setting 2.1.9. Repeater and Retimer Configurations 2.1.10. Noise Source Link Component 2.1.11. System Options 2.1.12. Project Management Functions 2.1.13. Archiving and Unarchiving Projects 2.1.14. Device Model Importer 2.1.15. Analysis Functions and Pre-Simulation and Pre-Analysis Checklists 2.1.16. COM Analysis
2.1.3. Transmitter Setting x
2.1.3.1. Jitter/Noise Component 2.1.3.2. Transmitter Options 2.1.3.3. Characterization Data Access 2.1.3.4. IBIS-AMI Transmitter Configuration 2.1.3.5. Pulse Fitting Analysis 2.1.3.6. SNDR Analysis 2.1.3.7. Jnu/Jrms/EOJ Analysis
2.1.4. Receiver Setting x
2.1.4.1. Jitter/Noise Setting 2.1.4.2. Characterization Data Access 2.1.4.3. Receiver Options 2.1.4.4. IBIS-AMI Receiver Configuration
2.1.9. Repeater and Retimer Configurations x
2.1.9.1. Repeater/Retimer RX Configuration 2.1.9.2. Repeater/Retimer TX Configuration
2.3. Advanced Link Analyzer Channel Viewer Module x
2.3.1. Channel Plot Panel 2.3.2. Channel List Panel 2.3.3. Plot Option Panel
2.3.3. Plot Option Panel x
2.3.3.1. S-parameter Mode Panel 2.3.3.2. Plot Configuration Panel 2.3.3.3. Options
3. Tutorial: PCI Express* 8GT x
3.1. Methodology 3.2. Setup and Initialization 3.3. Analysis
3.2. Setup and Initialization x
3.2.1. Setting Up the Control Module 3.2.2. Constructing the Channel 3.2.3. Completing the System
1. System Requirements and Installation Guide
2. Functional Description
3. Tutorial: PCI Express* 8GT
4. Document Revision History for Advanced Link Analyzer User Guide

1.2. Installation

Installing the Advanced Link Analyzer

To install Advanced Link Analyzer, perform the following steps:

  1. Acquire the current version of the Advanced Link Analyzer Installation Package from the Intel Download Center.
    1. Go to the Intel FPGA Download Center.
    2. Using the left-hand filter pane, perform the following steps to refine the search results:
      1. Select the Intel® Quartus® Prime Design Software option. This displays three Intel® Quartus® Prime software editions (Pro, Standard, or Lite).
      2. Select the desired Intel® Quartus® Prime software edition. This displays a list of supported software versions.
      3. Select the desired Intel® Quartus® Prime software release version.
      4. Select the desired operating system.
    3. In the refined list of pages, click Intel® Advanced Link Analyzer software version page to download the software. The product download page appears.
    4. Under Software Downloads, click Download <file_name>.
    5. Accept the Software License Agreement to start downloading the installer into a temporary directory.
  2. Execute the installation file to install Advanced Link Analyzer.
  3. Execute Advanced Link Analyzer.exe to start Advanced Link Analyzer. Advanced Link Analyzer comes with both 32-bit and 64-bit executables. 32-bit Advanced Link Analyzer is located in <Advanced Link Analyzer Installation Directory>\bin and 64-bit Advanced Link Analyzer is in <Advanced Link Analyzer Installation Directory>\bin64. For example, the most common installation folder for 64-bit is C:\intelFPGA_pro_ala\<current version>\adv_link_analyzer\bin64.
  4. Starting with the 19.3 version, the Advanced Link Analyzer installation directory is write-protected so that no data or files can be created or modified in it.

Specifying a Different Working Directory

When you execute the Advanced Link Analyzer for the first time, the Advanced Link Analyzer might request for your permission to create an Advanced Link Analyzer working directory at C:\Users\<Your User or Account Name>\AdvancedLinkAnalyzer\<current version>\GUI_Work. Click Yes to use the default location.

To use a different working directory, perform these steps:
  1. Exit the Advanced Link Analyzer.
  2. Create an environment variable ALAUserWorkDirectory, and specify the full path name of the desired work directory location.
  3. Start the Advanced Link Analyzer. The Advanced Link Analyzer requests you to create a work directory in the specified location.
  4. Click Yes to complete.
Note: The Advanced Link Analyzer is not fully configured for your use until the work directory creation step is completed. With the completion of installation and work directory creation, the Advanced Link Analyzer is in a clean state with default license setting.

Preserving Existing Settings and Installed Device Models

If you upgrade from the previous version of the Advanced Link Analyzer and you want to preserve your existing settings and installed device models, Intel® recommends you follow these steps:

  1. Install the Advanced Link Analyzer using the installer.
  2. Start the newly installed Advanced Link Analyzer main GUI and allow the GUI to complete the setup process, for example, creating a work directory.
  3. Close the Advanced Link Analyzer.
  4. Copy the existing settings and/or data files, for example, files in C:\Users\<Your User or Account Name>\AdvancedLinkAnalyzer\<previous version>\ to a new location, for example, C:\Users\<Your User or Account Name>\AdvancedLinkAnalyzer\<current version>\.
  5. Start the Advanced Link Analyzer.

With the above steps, your license and settings should be migrated to the current version.

Handling Write-protection Issue During Simulation

Due to the Intel® Quartus® Prime software write protection, some legacy Intel® IBIS-AMI models, for example, Intel® Stratix® 10 L-tile and H-tile receiver models, can cause issues during simulations. This does not happen universally, and the issues depend on your computer’s security and access control settings. An internal solution was developed during the 20.4 release to redirect the simulation output to the project output folder, which should resolve this issue (see System Options for details). In case you still experience the write-protection related issue, perform one of the following:

  • Get administration write access to your account or computer. You may need to contact your IT support for this option.
  • Copy your Advanced Link Analyzer installation to somewhere outside the original installation folder. For example, you can copy your installation from C:\intelFPGA_pro\22.1\adv_link_analyzer to C:\tmp\adv_link_analyzer, and then change the new folder’s (include folder, sub-folders, and files) attributes so that it is not read-only. Launch Advanced Link Analyzer from this new location.

Intel recommends that you install and run the Advanced Link Analyzer in local storage space. Because the Advanced Link Analyzer can create temporary working files in storage space, simulation speed can be impacted if the installation or temporary files are located in a network drive or remote storage space. If you need to use remote storage space, the Advanced Link Analyzer provides an option to specify the simulation working directory. You can configure your local storage space as the simulation working directory to improve simulation speed. See System Options for details.

The Advanced Link Analyzer requires an Intel® Quartus® Prime software license to perform simulations, design channels, and view channel characteristics. Contact My Intel support if you have questions regarding accessing the Intel® Quartus® Prime software pro/standard license.

Note: Advanced Link Analyzer 15.0 and older versions require a Quartus II subscription license to perform simulations, design channels, and view channel characteristics.

Configuring License Checking Configurations

The Advanced Link Analyzer automatically checks the license server specified in the system environment variable LM_LICENSE_FILE for the required license. You can configure the license checking configuration by editing the following entries in the configuration file JNEye_Config.dat:

Entry Description
%% LM_License_File_Name License file name. If a license file is specified, the Advanced Link Analyzer validates the license in this file. If the license is not valid, the license server (specified in LM_LICENSE_FILE) is used. The default value is na.
%% LM_License_Feature_Name The feature or type of license to be checked out for the Advanced Link Analyzer use. The default value is quartus.

The JNEye_Config.dat file is located in Advanced Link Analyzer's C:\Users\<Your User or Account Name>\AdvancedLinkAnalyzer\ <current version> folders.

Troubleshooting

If you have problems running the Advanced Link Analyzer after installing the program, follow these instructions:

  • Verify that Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 library is installed on your system. If you execute Advanced Link Analyzer in a system that does not have the Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 library, you get an error message.
    • If you do not have the Visual C++ 2019 library installed, download it from the Microsoft web site, and install it.
      Note: For 64-bit Windows operating systems, the 32-bit version of the Visual C++ 2019 library is required for running the 32-bit version of the Advanced Link Analyzer.
  • Verify that the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8 is installed on your system. If you execute the Advanced Link Analyzer in a system that does not have Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8, you get an error message.
    • You may have to install Windows Imaging Component (WIC) before installing .NET Framework 4.8. You can download WIC from the Microsoft web site.
    • Download .NET Framework 4.8 from the Microsoft web site and install it.
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