Nios® V Processors
Nios® V processor is the next generation of soft processor for Intel® FPGAs based on the open-source RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture. This processor is available in the Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition Software starting with version 21.3.
White Paper: Intel Partners with Ashling for RISC-V Tools Support
Intel adopts a leadership role in the RISC-V ecosystem and partners with Ashling to provide Ashling RiscFree IDE for Intel® FPGAs and Unified Debugger support for Nios® V soft processors.
Nios® V/m
Microcontroller
Based on RISC-V: RV32IA, designed for performance, with atomic extensions, 5-stage pipeline, and AXI4 interfaces. Read the Nios® V Processor Reference Manual to learn more about features and performance benchmarks.
Getting Started with Nios® V/m Processor
Learn how to generate and build a simple hello world example design in platform designer for the Nios® V/m processor.
Setting Up Open Source Tools for Nios® V/m
Learn how to download and set up the open source tools for software development on the Nios® V/m processor.
Software Development on the Nios® V/m Processor
Learn about software development on the Nios® V/m processor using the open source ecosystem.
What's New
See what's new with the Nios® V processors.
Benefits
Flexibility
With the perfect fit of CPUs, peripherals, memory interfaces, and custom peripherals to meet the unique demands of every new design cycle, Nios® V processors offer you tremendous flexibility where you need it.
Simple and Standard Flows
It is easy to create a processor and peripheral solution with the Nios® V processor using the traditional hardware tool flows like Platform Designer and the Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition Software as needed for your production solution.
Easy System Integration
You can create a new design from ground up on the Nios® V processor or port existing Nios® II/e designs to the Nios® V/m processor. The Nios® V/m processor intellectual property (IP) core is compatible with existing IP cores in Platform Designer.
High Performance
Nios® V processors give you the ultimate flexibility to achieve the exact performance required for your embedded design, without overpaying for high clock frequency, power-hungry off-the-shelf processors. Due to architectural improvements, the Nios® V/m processor has performance benefits over the Nios® II/e processor.
JTAG Debug Module
The Nios® V processor architecture supports a Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) debug module that provides on-chip debug.
Open-Source Ecosystem
Leverage the community-maintained ecosystem to get your designs to market faster by choosing from the most up-to-date and modern toolchains, debuggers, and real-time operating system (RTOS) for your software development.
Development Environment
The Ashling RiscFree IDE for Intel® FPGAs is the Integrated development environment for creating embedded applications on Intel’s Arm* based hard processor system and Nios V soft processors. This IDE delivers homogenous and heterogeneous multi-processor design, and debug capabilities. Currently supported key features include:
- Included with the Intel Quartus Prime Software Pro version 22.2 onwards or available as a standalone free download for embedded software developers
- Full tool-chain including Ashling RiscFree for Intel® FPGAs IDE, Compiler, Debugger and Trace
- IDE based on Eclipse with full source and project creation, editing, build and debug support
- Run-time Debug with support for the Intel® FPGA Download Cable II (USB Blaster II)
- Register Visualization for Nios® V processors and Arm* cores
- Real Time Operating System (RTOS) debug awareness
- For more information, read the Ashling RiscFree IDE for Intel® FPGAs User Guide
Getting Started
- You can get the Nios® V/m processor IP license from the Self Service Licensing Center at no cost.
- Example designs included with the Nios V/m IP in Platform Designer in the Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software.
- Download the latest Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition Software and the Ashling RiscFree IDE for Intel® FPGAs and get started today. Download now.
Ecosystem
- Get your designs to market faster with the growing ecosystem for Nios® V processor that is based on the open-source industry standard RISC-V ISA.
- The Intel Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and Micrium* MicroC/OS-II are supported on the Nios® V/m processor and included in the Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition Software.
- There will be additional Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) supported on the upcoming processors in the Nios® V processor family. Stay tuned for updates.
Product and Performance Information
Future releases are subject to change.