Intel's (formerly Altera) Cyclone® IV GX Transceiver Starter Kit provides a low-cost platform for developing transceiver I/O-based FPGA designs. This kit includes the complete hardware and software for you to:
Develop your FPGA design for cost-sensitive applications
Measure the FPGA's low power consumption
Test signal quality of the FPGA transceiver I/O pins (up to 2.5 Gbps)
Develop and test PCI Express® (PCIe®) 1.0 endpoint x1 lane designs (~250 MBps transfer rate)
Ordering Information
IMPORTANT NOTE: CDs and DVDs are no longer included in Intel® FPGA development kits. All development kit content can be downloaded from this web page. To get a copy of the Cyclone IV GX Transceiver Starter Kit installation content and Quartus® Prime Lite Edition design software delivered to you on CDs or DVDs, please go to the main literature web page to order online or contact Intel sales at 1-888-800-0631.
Table 1. Cyclone IV GX Transceiver Kit Ordering Code and Pricing Information
Buyer represents that it is a product developer, software developer or system integrator and acknowledges that this product is an evaluation kit that is not FCC authorized, is made available solely for evaluation and software development, and may not be resold.
Transceiver Starter Kit Content
The Cyclone IV GX Transceiver Starter Kit features the following:
Cyclone IV GX transceiver starter board (see Figure 1)
Featured device
Cyclone IV GX EP4CGX15BF14C8N FPGA
Configuration status and set-up elements
MAX® II CPLD EPM2210 System Controller enabling passive serial (PS) configuration from flash
Embedded USB-Blaster™ for using the Quartus Programmer
JTAG header for external USB-Blaster
Intel FPGA serial configuration device
Clocks
FPGA clock sources: 50 MHz, 125 MHz, and SMA clock input
Other on-board oscillators: 6 MHz, 24 MHz, and 25 MHz
General user input/output
LEDs
Two-line character LCD display
Push-buttons
Memory devices
16 MB of flash memory
2 MB of synchronous SRAM
Component and interfaces
PCIe edge connector
10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet PHY with RJ-45 connector or one transceiver to SMA connectors (requires a minor board modification)
PCIe low-profile (6.6" x 2.713") board form factor
Power adapter and cables
The Cyclone IV GX Transceiver Starter Kit design examples and documentation can be downloaded from Table 2. Included are the following:
Design examples
Board Update Portal featuring the Nios® II processor and remote system update
Board Test System (BTS)
Complete documentation
User guide
Reference manual
Board schematic and layout
Bill of material
Quartus Prime design software is required in order to create designs for the Cyclone IV GX device on this board. Cyclone IV GX devices are supported by both the subscription edition and the "no license required" web edition software, which can be downloaded by following this link. The following tools are included:
Quartus Prime Lite Edition (Windows only)
MegaCore® IP Library including PCI Express, Triple Speed Ethernet, and the Nios II processor MegaCore function (IP evaluation available through OpenCore Plus)
ModelSim*-Intel Starter Edition
Nios II Embedded Design Suite
Figure 1: Cyclone IV GX Transceiver Starter Board
Downloads
To get a copy of the Cyclone IV GX Transceiver Starter Kit installation content and Quartus II Web Edition software delivered to you on CDs/DVDs, please go to the main literature web page to order online or contact Intel sales at 1-888-800-0631
Table 2. Collateral for the Cyclone IV GX Transceiver Starter Kit
(Updated) Full installation of all kit-specific files including the reference manual, user guide, Quick Start Guide, bill of materials, layout, PCB, schematics, and design examples
(Archive) Full installation of all kit-specific files including the reference manual, user guide, Quick Start Guide, bill of materials, layout, PCB, schematics, and design examples
(Archive) Full installation of all kit-specific files including the reference manual, user guide, Quick Start Guide, bill of materials, layout, PCB, schematics, and design examples
This file is also included in the kit installation.
This kit installation executable (released March 2013) is Windows-based only. This kit installtion works with Quartus II Web Edition software version 12.1.0.
This kit installation executable (released September 2012) is Windows-based only. This kit installtion works with Quartus II Web Edition software version 12.0.0.
This kit installation executable (released November 2011) is Windows-based only. This kit installtion works with Quartus II Web Edition software version 11.1.0.
Reference Designs and Example Designs
Table 3. Designs for the Cyclone IV GX Transceiver Starter Kit
