AN 886: Intel Agilex® 7 Device Design Guidelines

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ID 683634
Date 10/09/2023
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Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. Introduction to the Intel Agilex® 7 Device Design Guidelines 2. System Specification 3. Device Selection 4. Security Considerations 5. Design Entry 6. Board and Software Considerations 7. Design Implementation, Analysis, Optimization, and Verification 8. Debugging 9. Embedded Software Design Guidelines for Intel Agilex® 7 SoC FPGAs
1. Introduction to the Intel Agilex® 7 Device Design Guidelines x
1.1. Design Flow 1.2. Introduction to the Intel Agilex® 7 Device Design Guidelines Revision History
2. System Specification x
2.1. Design Specifications 2.2. Install Intel® Quartus® Prime Software 2.3. IP Selection 2.4. Simulation 2.5. Preparing for Design Entry 2.6. I/O Summary 2.7. Using Intel Agilex® 7 HPS in your Device 2.8. System Specification Revision History
2.3. IP Selection x
2.3.1. Evaluate Available HPS IP 2.3.2. Select Soft/Hardened IP and I/O Interfaces
2.5. Preparing for Design Entry x
2.5.1. Coding Styles and Design Recommendations 2.5.2. Platform Designer
3. Device Selection x
3.1. Device Variant 3.2. PLLs and Clock Routing 3.3. Logic, Memory, and Multiplier Density 3.4. I/O Pin Count, LVDS SERDES Channels, and Package Offering 3.5. Speed Grade 3.6. Device Migration 3.7. Device Selection Revision History
4. Security Considerations x
4.1. Security Considerations Revision History
5. Design Entry x
5.1. Design Entry for SoC Devices 5.2. Design Entry for FPGA-only Devices 5.3. Design Entry for NoC 5.4. EMIF Considerations 5.5. Nios® Software Processor IP 5.6. Transceiver Planning 5.7. Reconfiguration 5.8. Design Entry Revision History
5.1. Design Entry for SoC Devices x
5.1.1. Firewall Planning 5.1.2. Boot And Configuration Considerations 5.1.3. HPS Clocking and Reset Design Considerations 5.1.4. Reset Configuration 5.1.5. HPS Pin Multiplexing Design Considerations 5.1.6. HPS I/O Settings: Constraints and Drive Strengths 5.1.7. Design Guidelines for HPS Interfaces 5.1.8. Interfacing between the FPGA and HPS 5.1.9. Implementing the Intel Agilex® 7 HPS Component
5.1.2. Boot And Configuration Considerations x
5.1.2.1. Selecting HPS Boot Options 5.1.2.2. Configuration Sources 5.1.2.3. Remote System Update (RSU)
5.1.3. HPS Clocking and Reset Design Considerations x
5.1.3.1. HPS Clock Planning 5.1.3.2. Early Pin Planning and I/O Assignment Analysis 5.1.3.3. Pin Features and Connections for HPS Clocks, Reset and PoR 5.1.3.4. Direct to Factory Pin Support for Remote System Update (RSU) Feature 5.1.3.5. Internal Clocks
5.1.4. Reset Configuration x
5.1.4.1. HPS Peripheral Reset Management 5.1.4.2. System Reset Considerations
5.1.7. Design Guidelines for HPS Interfaces x
5.1.7.1. Design Considerations for Selecting PHY Interfaces 5.1.7.2. USB Interface Design Guidelines 5.1.7.3. SD/MMC and eMMC Card Interface Design Guidelines 5.1.7.4. Design Guidelines for Flash Interfaces 5.1.7.5. UART Interface Design Guidelines 5.1.7.6. I2C Interface Design Guidelines
5.1.7.1. Design Considerations for Selecting PHY Interfaces x
5.1.7.1.1. HPS EMAC PHY Interfaces 5.1.7.1.2. RMII and RGMII PHY Interfaces 5.1.7.1.3. PHY Interfaces Connected Through FPGA I/O GUIDELINE: Specify the PHY interface transmit clock frequency when configuring the HPS component in Platform Designer. GMII/MII GUIDELINE: Apply timing constraints and verify timing with Timing Analyzer. GUIDELINE: Register interface I/O at the FPGA I/O boundary. GUIDELINE: Consider transmit timing in MII mode. Adapting to RGMII Adapting to RMII GUIDELINE: Provide a 50 MHz REF_CLK source. GUIDELINE: Adapt the transmit and receive data and control paths. GUIDELINE: Provide a glitch-free clock source on the HPS EMAC MII tx_clk_in clock input. Adapting to SGMII GUIDELINE: Use the GMII to SGMII Adapter IP available in Platform Designer. GUIDELINE: Since the TSE MAC IP with 1000BASE-X PCS option no longer provides an option for the transceiver I/O, to implement an SGMII PHY interface using the FPGA transceiver I/O for an Intel Agilex® 7 HPS EMAC instance, you must select "NONE" for the PCS I/O option, which gives you a TBI interface. The transceiver PHY IP must be separately instanced and connected in the Intel Agilex® 7 device. 5.1.7.1.4. Consider Device Driver Availability 5.1.7.1.5. MDIO 5.1.7.1.6. Signal Integrity
5.1.7.4. Design Guidelines for Flash Interfaces x
5.1.7.4.1. NAND Flash Interface Design Guidelines
5.1.8. Interfacing between the FPGA and HPS x
5.1.8.1. Overview of HPS Memory-Mapped Interfaces 5.1.8.2. Recommended System Topologies 5.1.8.3. Recommended Starting Point for HPS-to-FPGA Interface Designs 5.1.8.4. Information on How to Configure and Use the Bridges
5.1.8.1. Overview of HPS Memory-Mapped Interfaces x
5.1.8.1.1. HPS-to-FPGA Bridge 5.1.8.1.2. Lightweight HPS-to-FPGA Bridge 5.1.8.1.3. FPGA-to-HPS Bridge 5.1.8.1.4. Interface Bandwidths
5.1.8.2. Recommended System Topologies x
5.1.8.2.1. System Level Cache Coherency 5.1.8.2.2. HPS Accesses to FPGA Fabric 5.1.8.2.3. MPU Sharing Data with FPGA 5.1.8.2.4. Examples of Cacheable and Non-Cacheable Data Accesses From the FPGA
5.2. Design Entry for FPGA-only Devices x
5.2.1. Clocking and Reset Design Considerations 5.2.2. I/O and Clock Planning
5.2.2. I/O and Clock Planning x
5.2.2.1. Making FPGA Pin Assignments 5.2.2.2. Early Pin Planning and I/O Assignment Analysis for the FPGA Device 5.2.2.3. I/O Features and Pin Connections 5.2.2.4. Clock and PLL Selection 5.2.2.5. PLL Feature Guidelines 5.2.2.6. Clock Control Features 5.2.2.7. I/O Simultaneous Switching Noise
5.2.2.3. I/O Features and Pin Connections x
5.2.2.3.1. I/O Signaling Type 5.2.2.3.2. Selectable Standards and Flexible I/O Banks 5.2.2.3.3. Dual-Purpose and Special Pin Connections 5.2.2.3.4. Intel Agilex® 7 I/O Features
5.2.2.5. PLL Feature Guidelines x
5.2.2.5.1. Clock Feedback Mode 5.2.2.5.2. Clock Outputs
5.3. Design Entry for NoC x
5.3.1. NoC Architecture Basics 5.3.2. NoC Design Flow 5.3.3. Configuring NoC IP 5.3.4. Instantiating NoC IP 5.3.5. NoC Assignments 5.3.6. NoC Physical Placement 5.3.7. Compilation 5.3.8. Simulation
5.4. EMIF Considerations x
5.4.1. Memory Interfaces 5.4.2. FPGA EMIF Design Considerations
5.5. Nios® Software Processor IP x
5.5.1. Nios® V 5.5.2. Nios® II
6. Board and Software Considerations x
6.1. Early System and Board Planning 6.2. Board Design Guidelines for Intel Agilex® 7 SoC FPGAs 6.3. Pin Connection Considerations for Board Design 6.4. Board Considerations Revision History
6.1. Early System and Board Planning x
6.1.1. SmartVID 6.1.2. Intel® FPGA Power and Thermal Calculator 6.1.3. Thermal Management and Design 6.1.4. Temperature Sensing for Thermal Management 6.1.5. Voltage Sensor 6.1.6. Device Power-Up 6.1.7. Power Pin Connections and Power Supplies 6.1.8. Planning for Device Configuration
6.1.7. Power Pin Connections and Power Supplies x
6.1.7.1. Decoupling Capacitors 6.1.7.2. PLL Board Design Guidelines 6.1.7.3. Transceiver Board Design Guidelines
6.1.8. Planning for Device Configuration x
6.1.8.1. Device Power Cycling and Reconfiguration 6.1.8.2. Configuration Scheme Selection 6.1.8.3. Configuration Features 6.1.8.4. Intel® Quartus® Prime Configuration Settings 6.1.8.5. Configuration Pin Connections
6.1.8.2. Configuration Scheme Selection x
6.1.8.2.1. Serial Configuration Devices 6.1.8.2.2. Intel® FPGA Download Cable
6.1.8.4. Intel® Quartus® Prime Configuration Settings x
6.1.8.4.1. Optional Configuration Pins 6.1.8.4.2. Dual Purpose Configuration Pins
6.1.8.5. Configuration Pin Connections x
6.1.8.5.1. Configuration Pin Voltage Level 6.1.8.5.2. Clock Trace Signal Integrity 6.1.8.5.3. JTAG Pins 6.1.8.5.4. MSEL Configuration Mode Pins 6.1.8.5.5. Other Configuration Pins
6.2. Board Design Guidelines for Intel Agilex® 7 SoC FPGAs x
6.2.1. Boundary Scan for HPS 6.2.2. Embedded Software Debugging and Trace
6.3. Pin Connection Considerations for Board Design x
6.3.1. Board-Related Intel® Quartus® Prime Settings 6.3.2. Signal Integrity Considerations 6.3.3. Board-Level Simulation and Advanced I/O Timing Analysis
6.3.1. Board-Related Intel® Quartus® Prime Settings x
6.3.1.1. Unused Pins
6.3.2. Signal Integrity Considerations x
6.3.2.1. High-Speed Board Design 6.3.2.2. Voltage Reference Pins 6.3.2.3. Simultaneous Switching Noise 6.3.2.4. I/O Termination
7. Design Implementation, Analysis, Optimization, and Verification x
7.1. Selecting a Synthesis Tool 7.2. Device Resource Utilization Reports 7.3. Intel® Quartus® Prime Messages 7.4. Timing Constraints and Analysis 7.5. Area and Timing Optimization 7.6. Preserving Performance and Reducing Compilation Time 7.7. Designing with Intel® Hyperflex™ 7.8. Simulation 7.9. Power Analysis 7.10. Power Optimization 7.11. Design Implementation, Analysis, Optimization, and Verification Revision History
7.4. Timing Constraints and Analysis x
7.4.1. Recommended Timing Optimization and Analysis Assignments
7.10. Power Optimization x
7.10.1. Device and Design Power Optimization Techniques 7.10.2. Intel® Quartus® Prime Power Optimization Techniques
7.10.1. Device and Design Power Optimization Techniques x
7.10.1.1. Device Speed Grade 7.10.1.2. Clock Power Management 7.10.1.3. Memory Power Reduction 7.10.1.4. I/O Power Guidelines
8. Debugging x
8.1. On-Chip Debug Overview 8.2. On-Chip Debugging Tools 8.3. Debugging Revision History
8.1. On-Chip Debug Overview x
8.1.1. Planning Guidelines for Debugging Tools
9. Embedded Software Design Guidelines for Intel Agilex® 7 SoC FPGAs x
9.1. Overview 9.2. Golden Hardware Reference Design (GHRD) 9.3. Define Software Requirements 9.4. Define Software Architecture 9.5. Selecting Software Tools 9.6. Choosing the Bootloader Software 9.7. Selecting an Operating System for Your Application 9.8. Assembling Your Software Development Platform for Linux* 9.9. Assembling your Software Development Platform for Partner OS or RTOS 9.10. Driver Considerations 9.11. Boot And Configuration Considerations 9.12. System Reset Considerations 9.13. Flash Considerations 9.14. Develop Application 9.15. Test and Validate 9.16. Embedded Software Design Guidelines Revision History
9.5. Selecting Software Tools x
9.5.1. Selecting Software Build Tools 9.5.2. Selecting Software Debug Tools 9.5.3. Selecting Software Trace Tools
9.7. Selecting an Operating System for Your Application x
9.7.1. Using Linux* or RTOS 9.7.2. Using the Bootloader as a Bare-Metal Framework 9.7.3. Using Symmetrical vs. Asymmetrical Multiprocessing (SMP vs. AMP) Modes
9.8. Assembling Your Software Development Platform for Linux* x
9.8.1. Golden System Reference Design (GSRD) for Linux* 9.8.2. Source Code Management Considerations
9.11. Boot And Configuration Considerations x
9.11.1. Configuration Sources 9.11.2. Configuration Flash 9.11.3. Configuration Clock 9.11.4. Selecting HPS Boot Options 9.11.5. HPS Boot Sources 9.11.6. Remote System Update (RSU)
9.13. Flash Considerations x
9.13.1. Flash Programming Method 9.13.2. Using a Single flash for Both FPGA Configuration and HPS Mass Storage
1. Introduction to the Intel Agilex® 7 Device Design Guidelines
2. System Specification
3. Device Selection
4. Security Considerations
5. Design Entry
6. Board and Software Considerations
7. Design Implementation, Analysis, Optimization, and Verification
8. Debugging
9. Embedded Software Design Guidelines for Intel Agilex® 7 SoC FPGAs

5.1.7.1.3. PHY Interfaces Connected Through FPGA I/O

Using FPGA I/O for an HPS EMAC PHY interface can be helpful when there are not enough left to accommodate the PHY interface or when you want to adapt to a PHY interface not natively supported by the HPS EMAC.

GUIDELINE: Specify the PHY interface transmit clock frequency when configuring the HPS component in Platform Designer.

For either GMII or MII, including adapting to other PHY interfaces, specify the maximum transmit path clock frequency for the HPS EMAC PHY interface: 125 MHz for GMII, 25 MHz for MII. This configuration results in the proper clock timing constraints being applied to the PHY interface transmit clock upon Platform Designer system generation.

GMII/MII

GMII and MII are only available in the Intel Agilex® 7 device by driving the EMAC signals into the FPGA core routing logic, then ultimately to FPGA I/O pins or to internal registers in the FPGA core.

GUIDELINE: Apply timing constraints and verify timing with Timing Analyzer.

Because routing delays can vary widely in the FPGA core and I/O structures, it is important to read the timing reports, and especially for GMII, create timing constraints. GMII has a 125 MHz clock and is single data rate unlike RGMII. GMII does not have the same considerations for CLK-to-DATA skew though; its signals are automatically centered by design by being launched with the negative edge and captured with the rising edge.

GUIDELINE: Register interface I/O at the FPGA I/O boundary.

With core and I/O delays easily exceeding 8 ns, Intel® recommends to register these buses in each direction in I/O Element (IOE) registers, so they remain aligned as they travel across the core FPGA logic fabric. On the transmit data and control, maintain the clock-to-data/control relationship by latching these signals on the falling edge of the emac[0,1,2]_gtx_clk output from the HPS EMAC. Latch the receive data and control at the FPGA I/O inputs on the rising edge of the RX_CLK sourced by the PHY.

GUIDELINE: Consider transmit timing in MII mode.

MII is 25 MHz when the PHY is in 100 Mbps mode and 2.5 MHz when the PHY is in 10 Mbps mode, so the shortest clock period is 40 ns. The PHY sources the clock for both transmit and receive directions. Because the transmit timing is relative to the TX_CLK clock provided by the PHY, the turnaround time may be of concern, but this is usually not an issue due to the long 40 ns clock period.

Since the reference clock is transmitted through the FPGA, then out for the data – the round-trip delay must be less than 25 ns as there is a 15 ns input setup time. Note that the transmit data and control are launched into the FPGA fabric by the HPS EMAC transmit path logic on the negative edge of the PHY-sourced TX_CLK, which removes 20 ns of the 40 ns clock-to-setup timing budget.

With the round-trip clock path delay on the data arrival timing incurring PHY-to-SoC board propagation delay plus the internal path delay from the SoC pin to and through the HPS EMAC transmit clock mux taking away from the remaining 20 ns setup timing budget, it may be necessary to retime the transmit data and control to the rising edge of the phy_txclk_o clock output registers in the FPGA fabric for MII mode transmit data and control.

Adapting to RGMII

The Intel Agilex® 7 SoC device does not support adapting the HPS EMAC signals to RGMII using FPGA I/O pins.

Adapting to RMII

It is possible to adapt the MII HPS EMAC PHY signals to an RMII PHY interface at the FPGA I/O pins using logic in the FPGA.

GUIDELINE: Provide a 50 MHz REF_CLK source.

An RMII PHY uses a single 50 MHz reference clock (REF_CLK) for both transmit and receive data and control. Provide the 50 MHz REF_CLK either with a board-level clock source, a generated clock from the FPGA fabric, or from a PHY capable of generating the REF_CLK.

GUIDELINE: Adapt the transmit and receive data and control paths.

The HPS EMAC PHY interface exposed in the FPGA fabric is MII, which requires separate transmit and receive clock inputs of 2.5 MHz and 25 MHz for 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps modes of operation, respectively. Both transmit and receive datapaths are 4-bits wide. The RMII PHY uses the 50 MHz REF_CLK for both its transmit and receive datapaths and at both 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps modes of operation. The RMII transmit and receive datapaths are 2-bits wide. At 10 Mbps, transmit and receive data and control are held stable for 10 clock cycles of the 50 MHz REF_CLK. You must provide adaptation logic in the FPGA fabric to adapt between the HPS EMAC MII and external RMII PHY interfaces: four bits at 25MHz and 2.5 MHz, to and from two bits at 50 MHz, and 10x oversampled in 10 Mbps mode.

GUIDELINE: Provide a glitch-free clock source on the HPS EMAC MII tx_clk_in clock input.

The HPS component’s MII interface requires a 2.5/25 MHz transmit clock on its emac[0,1,2]_tx_clk_in input port. The switch between 2.5 MHz and 25 MHz must be done glitch free as required by the HPS EMAC. An FPGA PLL can be used to provide the 2.5 MHz and 25 MHz transmit clock along with an ALTCLKCTRL IP block to select between counter outputs glitch-free.

Adapting to SGMII

You can use the GMII-to-SGMII Adapter core to adapt the GMII HPS EMAC PHY signals to a Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface (SGMII) PHY interface at the FPGA transceiver I/O pins using logic in the FPGA and the multi gigabit transceiver I/O. While it is possible to design custom logic for this adaptation, this section describes using Platform Designer adapter IP.

GUIDELINE: Use the GMII to SGMII Adapter IP available in Platform Designer.

Configure the HPS component in Platform Designer for an EMAC “To FPGA” I/O instance and choose GMII as the PHY interface type along with a management interface. Do not export the resulting HPS component GMII signals in Platform Designer. Instead, add the Intel GMII to SGMII Adapter IP to the Platform Designer subsystem and connect to the HPS component’s GMII signals. The GMII to SGMII Adapter IP makes use of the Intel HPS EMAC Interface Splitter IP in Platform Designer to split out the “emac” conduit from the HPS component for use by the GMII to SGMII Adapter. The adapter IP instantiates the Intel Triple Speed Ethernet (TSE) MAC IP, configured in 1000BASE-X/SGMII PCS PHY-only mode (that is, no soft MAC component). For more information about how to use the Intel GMII to SGMII Adapter IP, refer to the Embedded Peripherals User Guide.

GUIDELINE: Since the TSE MAC IP with 1000BASE-X PCS option no longer provides an option for the transceiver I/O, to implement an SGMII PHY interface using the FPGA transceiver I/O for an Intel Agilex® 7 HPS EMAC instance, you must select "NONE" for the PCS I/O option, which gives you a TBI interface. The transceiver PHY IP must be separately instanced and connected in the Intel Agilex® 7 device.

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