Arria® 10 and Cyclone® 10 GX Avalon® Streaming Interface for PCI Express* User Guide

ID 683647
Date 9/11/2024
Public
Document Table of Contents

1.9. Creating a Design for PCI Express

Select the PCIe variant that best meets your design requirements.

  • Is your design an Endpoint or Root Port?
  • What Generation do you intend to implement?
  • What link width do you intend to implement?
  • What bandwidth does your application require?
  • Does your design require Configuration via Protocol (CvP)?
Note: The following steps only provide a high-level overview of the design generation and simulation process. For more details, refer to the Quick Start Guide chapter.
  1. Select parameters for that variant.
  2. For Arria® 10 devices, you can use the new Example Design tab of the component GUI to generate a design that you specify. Then, you can simulate this example and also download it to an Arria® 10 FPGA Development Kit. Refer to the Arria® 10/ Cyclone® 10 GX PCI Express* IP Core Quick Start Guide for details.
  3. For all devices, you can simulate using an Intel-provided example design. All static PCI Express example designs are available under <install_dir>/ip/altera/altera_pcie/altera_pcie_<dev>_ed/example_design/<dev> . Alternatively, create a simulation model and use your own custom or third-party BFM. The Platform Designer Generate menu generates simulation models. Intel supports ModelSim* - Intel FPGA Edition for all IP. The PCIe cores support the Aldec RivieraPro*, Cadence NCSim*, Mentor Graphics ModelSim*, and Synopsys VCS* and VCS-MX* simulators.
    The Intel testbench and Root Port or Endpoint BFM provide a simple method to do basic testing of the Application Layer logic that interfaces to the variation. However, the testbench and Root Port BFM are not intended to be a substitute for a full verification environment. To thoroughly test your application, Intel suggests that you obtain commercially available PCI Express verification IP and tools, or do your own extensive hardware testing, or both.
  4. Compile your design using the Quartus® Prime software. If the versions of your design and the Quartus® Prime software you are running do not match, regenerate your PCIe design.
  5. Download your design to an Intel development board or your own PCB. Click on the All Development Kits link below for a list of Intel's development boards.
  6. Test the hardware. You can use Intel's Signal Tap Logic Analyzer or a third-party protocol analyzer to observe behavior.
  7. Substitute your Application Layer logic for the Application Layer logic in Intel's testbench. Then repeat Steps 3–6. In Intel's testbenches, the PCIe core is typically called the DUT (device under test). The Application Layer logic is typically called APPS.