F-Tile Architecture and PMA and FEC Direct PHY IP User Guide

ID 683872
Date 10/02/2023
Public

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3.3.7. Example Design Generation

The F-Tile PMA/FEC Direct PHY Intel® FPGA IP parameter editor includes the Generate Example Design function to easily create, generate, and simulate the PMA/FEC direct mode example design.

You can select from four Example Design Options for generation, as Example Design Options in IP Parameter Editor shows.

Figure 70. Example Design Options in IP Parameter Editor

The example designs support generation, compilation, and simulation flows for the target device. Starting in Intel® Quartus® Prime software version 22.1, hardware support for example designs is enabled in the Intel Agilex® 7 I-Series Transceiver-SoC development kit. The following Example Design Options are currently available:

Table 37.  Example Design Generation Options
Example Design Options Preset Setting Equivalent Description
FHT NRZ 25G 1 PMA lane RSFEC 272/258 FHT_NRZ_25G_1_PMA_Lane_RSFEC_272_258_ED 1 PMA FHT NRZ lane operating at 25.78125 Gbps with RS-FEC 272/258 mode.
FGT NRZ 50G 2 PMA lanes RSFEC 528/514 FGT_NRZ_50G_2_PMA_Lanes_RSFEC_528_514_ED 2 PMA FGT NRZ lanes operating at 25.78125 Gbps (each lane) with RS-FEC 528/514 mode.
FHT PAM4 4 400G 4 PMA lanes RSFEC 544/514 FHT_PAM4_400G_4_PMA_lanes_RSFEC_544_514_ED 4 PMA FHT PAM4 lanes operating at 106.25 Gbps (each lane) with RS-FEC 544/514 mode.
FGT NRZ 50G 2 PMA Lanes Custom Cadence FGT_NRZ_50G_2_PMA_Lanes_Custom_Cadence_ED

2 PMA FGT NRZ lanes operating at 25.78125 Gbps (each lane) with custom cadence clocking mode.

In custom cadence clocking mode, the system PLL clocks the digital data path (that is, the F-tile interface FIFO and core interface FIFO) of the PMA. The PMA block and PMA interface FIFO is clocked by PMA clockout.

The Example Design Options are equivalent with some of the preset settings, as Example Design Generation Options describes. To review the IP parameter settings for each preset, refer to F-Tile PMA/FEC Direct PHY Intel® FPGA IP Available Parameter Presets. Alternatively, right-click a preset in the IP parameter editor, and then click Show Preset Settings, or click Apply preset to apply the preset's settings in the parameter editor.

Figure 71. Show Preset Settings

If you select any of the four available Example Design Options, but change the F-Tile PMA/FEC Direct PHY Intel® FPGA IP settings in the GUI thereafter, the example design generated does not follow the changed settings for the F-Tile PMA/FEC Direct PHY Intel® FPGA IP. The example design generation only takes the Example Design Options listed in Example Design Generation Options. Any other changes that you make to the F-Tile PMA/FEC Direct PHY Intel® FPGA IP settings are not applied during example design generation.

The Example Design tab of the F-Tile PMA/FEC Direct PHY Intel® FPGA IP allows you to select pre-defined RS-FEC options to configure an example design as shown in the following figure.

Figure 72. RS-FEC Example Designs in the F-Tile PMA/FEC Direct PHY Intel® FPGA IP
There are three RS-FEC example designs available in the F-Tile PMA/FEC Direct PHY Intel® FPGA IP as shown:
  • FHT NRZ 25G 1 PMA Lane RSFEC 272/25
  • FGT NRZ 50G 2 PMA Lanes RSFEC 528/514
  • FHT PAM4 4 400G 4 PMA Lanes RSFEC 544/514
All the example designs follow the configuration options for the FEC direct mode as described in the following sections:
To generate an example design, follow the below steps:
  1. Go to the Example Design tab in the F-Tile PMA/FEC Direct PHY Intel® FPGA IP.
  2. Select one of the example designs from the drop-down menu. If you select None, you cannot generate the example design.
  3. Click the Acknowledgment: option box. This options is to remind you that only the example design you specify in the drop-down menu is generated. No other IP parameters setting that you specify take effect in the example design generation. If you do not check the acknowledgment box, you cannot generate the example design.
  4. Ensure steps 2. and step 3. are done, then click Generate Example Design.

Clicking Generate Example Design completes the IP Generation and Support-logic Generation stages of the Compiler. An example design folder also generates containing the Intel® Quartus® Prime project (.qpf), settings (.qsf), and IP files, simulation, and testbench files for the example design in the following location:

<Project Folder>/<directphy_f_0_example_design/example_design>

The Compiler reads the example design .qsf file that contains the PMA reference clock, and the TX and RX high speed serial pin location assignments.

In order to provide a reduction in real-time simulation duration, the example design testbench uses a Fast Sim model. This model is enabled via a macro in the simulation run scripts. The syntax to enable the Fast Sim model is as follows:

+define+IP7581SERDES_UX_SIMSPEED

This macro is enabled by default in the example design simulation scripts after you click Generate Example Design button.

You can use the Fast Sim model when you are simulating the F-Tile PMA/FEC Direct PHY Intel® FPGA IP design to reduce simulation time. However, in order to use the Fast Sim model, ensure all the IPs in your design that you place within the same F-tile, support Fast Sim mode. For example; if you have a PMA direct mode design together with other protocol IPs that do not support the Fast Sim mode and place them within the same F-tile, you can run into simulation errors for your PMA direct design.
Note: This macro is not available when you use FGT cascade mode, FGT dual simplex mode or when you use the FHT PMA.

Example Design Simulation

To simulate the example design in the VCS* , VCS* MX, ModelSim* , or Xcelium* simulators, use the following commands. The RTL files are in the example_design/rtl directory and simulation files are in the example_design/testbench directory.
  • To simulate with VCS* , go to the example_design/testbench directory and the launch the simulation using the shell script:
    sh run_vcs.sh
  • To simulate with VCS* MX, go to the example_design/testbench directory and the launch the simulation using the shell script:
    sh run_vcsmx.sh
  • To simulate with ModelSim* , go to the example_design/testbench directory and the launch the simulation using the command:
    vsim -c -do run_vsim.tcl
  • To simulate with Xcelium* , go to the example_design/testbench directory and the launch the simulation using the shell script:
    sh run_xcelium.sh
  • Launch waveform viewer to see the simulation results.
Starting in Intel® Quartus® Prime software version 21.3, the example designs support VHDL with VCS* MX and ModelSim* simulators.