AN 738: Intel® Arria® 10 Device Design Guidelines

ID 683555
Date 6/30/2017
Public
Document Table of Contents

1.3.4.1.1. Serial Configuration Devices

Intel® quad-serial configuration devices (EPCQ-L) are used in the AS configuration scheme.

Serial configuration devices can be programmed using a Intel® FPGA Download Cable II or Intel FPGA Ethernet Cable II download cable with the Quartus® Prime software through the active serial interface.

Alternatively, you can use the Intel® programming unit (APU), supported third-party programmers such as BP Microsystems and System General, or a microprocessor with the SRunner software driver. SRunner is a software driver developed for embedded serial configuration device programming that designers can customize to fit in different embedded systems.

Table 12.  Serial Configuration Devices Checklist
Number Done? Checklist Item
1   If you want to use the AS configuration mode with large device densities, confirm there is a configuration device available that is large enough for your target FPGA density.

Serial configuration devices do not directly support the JTAG interface; however, you can program the device with JTAG download cables using the Arria® 10 FPGA as a bridge between the JTAG interface and the configuration device, allowing both devices to use the same JTAG interface.

Note: Programming the EPCQ-L using the SFL solution is slower than using the standard AS interface because it must configure the FPGA before programming EPCQ-L configuration devices.