Nios® II Software Developer Handbook

ID 683525
Date 8/28/2023
Public
Document Table of Contents

5.3.2. Board Support Packages

A Nios® II BSP project is a specialized library containing system-specific support code. A BSP provides a software runtime environment customized for one processor in a hardware system. The BSP isolates your application from system-specific details such as the memory map, available devices, and processor configuration.

A BSP includes a .a file, header files (for example, system.h), and a linker script (linker.x). You use these BSP files when creating an application.

The Nios® II SBT supports two types of BSPs: Intel FPGA Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and Micrium MicroC/OS-II. MicroC/OS-II is a layer on top of the Intel FPGA HAL and shares a common structure.