Embedded Design Handbook

ID 683689
Date 8/28/2023
Public
Document Table of Contents

2.2. Embedded System Design

Whether you are a hardware designer or a software designer, read the Nios® II Hardware Development Tutorial to start learning about designing embedded systems on an Intel FPGA. The “ Nios® II System Development Flow” section is particularly useful in helping you to decide how to approach system design using Intel's embedded hardware and software development tools. Intel recommends that you read this tutorial before starting your first design project. The tutorial teaches you the basic hardware and software flow for developing Nios® II processor-based systems.

Designing with FPGAs gives you the flexibility to implement some functionality in discrete system components, some in software, and some in FPGA-based hardware. This flexibility makes the design process more complex. The Platform Designer system design tool helps to manage this complexity. Even if you decide a soft-core processor does not meet your application's needs, Platform Designer can still play a vital role in your system by providing mechanisms for peripheral expansion or processor offload.

The figure below illustrates the overall Nios® II system design flow, including both hardware and software development. This illustration is greatly simplified. There are numerous correct ways to use the Intel tools to create a Nios® II system.

Figure 1. General Nios® II System Design Flow