Application Note AN03, Digital Electronics Laboratory, 2020

Getting Started with Quartus

Muhammad Mun’im Ahmad Zabidi, Musa Mohd Mokji, Izam Kamisian, Norhafizah Ramli

Abstract
This article introduces the Quartus software, where to find it, install it and check out the installation with a simple
design.
1 Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

1. What is Quartus Table 1. Quartus Prime editions.

Quartus II is one of the software that can be used for a digital Edition Device Support Cost
system design and development. It was introduced by Al- Pro Edition Focus on top-of-the-line devices 30 day trial
tera and widely used to facilitate system on IC or embedded Standard Edition Widest device support 30 day trial
system development. The tasks are mainly involving sim-
Lite/Web Edition Entry-level Free
ulation and verification process. The designed model are
simulated for functional and timing verification on Quar-
tus II before integrated with the actual Altera devices for Table 2. Quartus differences by simulation waveform entry.
hardware verification.
In this tutorial, Quartus II 13.0 Web Edition will be used. Quartus Waveform Entry
This software supports both 32-bits and 64-bits operating Version Testbench Point-and-click
system. Users may also use other version that meet their 3.0 - 9.1 3 3
system requirement and the targeting Altera device. 10.0 - 12 3 5
Quartus is available in versions 2.2 through 18.0. Up 13.0 and above 3 3
until version 16, the software was called Quartus II. After
Intel took over Altera in 2016, three changes were made:

• Intel branding in the software

• The Altera Quartus II is now called Intel® Quartus®
Prime and Quartus II Web Edition become Quartus
Prime Lite Edition
• Introduction of the Pro edition which supports the
partial reconfiguration capability of the new Arria 10
FPGA

Table 2 summarizes the differences between the ver-

sions. As the version numbers get bigger, the software be-
comes more complex and require more computer resources.
Versions 10 through 12 should be avoided for beginners as
they require knowledge of writing testbenches in Verilog or
VHDL. Figure 1 summarizes the differences of the various
Quartus editions.
As a rule of thumb, if your computer’s processor is not
suitable for number-crunching (such as Celeron, Pentium,
i3 or Core M) and has 4 GB RAM or less, choose version 9.1
SP 2. If you computer has an i5 or i7 processor and you are
working on the latest and most expensive FPGA, choose the
latest version.
 Getting Started with Quartus — 2/10

2. Getting Quartus 4. Choose Help files if you want. The Help file can be
skipped if you want to further reduce the download
This section shows the steps to download version 13.0 of size.
Quartus II Web Edition.
The first step to downloading is to point your browser to
http://fpgasoftware.intel.com/13.0/?edition=web.

Figure 4. Choose Programmer and Help files.

4. Click the Download Selected Files button. You will

be asked to enter your password if you have not logged
Figure 1. Choose a version. in. And you may have to create an account if you have
not done so. If everything is fine, you will download
You can download the full Quartus II Web Edition bun- slightly more than 2.8 GB instead of 4.4 GB for the full
dle which is 4.4GB. This will download gigabytes worth of package. You should have:
device support which you will never use.
File Size
Download Only the Necessary Files QuartusSetupWeb-13.0.0.156.exe 1.64 GB
Since you are going to use only the CPLD chip, it is better to ModelSimSetup-13.0.0.156.exe 817 MB
download only the necessary files. max_web-13.0.0.156.qdz 7 MB
QuartusHelpSetup-13.0.0.156.exe 373 MB
1. Choose the Individual Files tab, and select both Quar-
tus II and ModelSim-Altera software as shown in Fig-
Installing Quartus
ure 2.
For installation, double-click on the QuartusLiteSetup exe-
cutable file and choose the default values.

Figure 2. Choose the design software.

2. Choose MAX II device support. Deselect all other files.

Figure 5. Quartus II Web Edition splash screen.

Figure 3. Choose device support.

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 Getting Started with Quartus — 3/10

3. Designing with Quartus 4. Example Design

Before you can start experimenting, you should understand This tutorial uses a simple circuit to check out the Quartus
how Quartus does its work. Figure 6 gives a overview. Note installation.
that Quartus software can do much more than what is shown A combinational logic circuit shows the results for three
here. people who vote. The three people are labeled as A, B, and C.
If at least two of them vote yes, then the output V becomes
Block
Diagram
Device Pin HIGH. Else if only one or none of them vote yes, the output
Assignment Assignment
Editor
becomes LOW.
The truth table of the problem is given in Table 3.
Text
Compiler Fitter Programmer
Editor

Table 3. Voter truth table.

State
Machine Functional Waveform Timing Input Output
Editor Simulation Editor Simulation
A B C V
0 0 0 0
0 0 1 1
Figure 6. Design flow using Quartus. 0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1
The square boxes are Quartus editor or dialog boxes 1 0 0 0
which you can use to enter designs or settings. They are: 1 0 1 1
1 1 0 1
• Block diagram editor for design entry using gates 1 1 1 1
and logic blocks
• Text editor for design entry using hardware design There are several possible Boolean equations that can
language, usually Verilog be derived. After simplifying the equation for V , we get
• State machine editor for entering a state machine
• Waveform editor for preparing an input waveform V = AB + BC + AC
before simulation
• Device assignment is a simple dialog box to specify We will now enter this circuit in Quartus and simulate
the target device its function.
• Pin assignment is a dialog box for setting the input/out-
put pins on the target device

The ovals are internal Quartus operations that execute

commands:

• Compiler converts a design into a netlist

• Fitter configures the internal wiring on a target device
to the netlist to obtain a bitstream
• Functional simulator performs device-independent
simulation based on logic function only without con-
sidering the physical device aspects
• Timing simulator performs device-specific simulation
which includes delay estimation. This simulation is
slower than functional so it is usually done after a
circuit has passed functional simulation.
• Programmer download the bitstream into the target
device

For simple experiments with digital logic, only two boxes are
used: the Block Diagram Editor and the Waveform Editor.

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 Getting Started with Quartus — 4/10


5. Specifying Project Settings 3. Click Next >
. This brings us to page 1.

1. Launch Quartus by double-clicking on the icon.

Figure 9. Quartus II Web Edition welcome screen.

Figure 7. Quartus II Web Edition welcome screen.

Working directory is the location of your project files.

2. From the top menu, choose File å New Project Wiz-
We strongly suggest to change the directory set-
ard. This will bring us to the introduction page.
tings to avoid problems if you have to reinstall
Quartus and to make it easy for backing up your
data. You can create a working directory at the
root level of your hard disk (e.g. C:\quartusprojects)
or inside your documents folder. Once you have
decided on the working directory for all your
Quartus projects, create a subdirectory for your
current design (e.g. Voting).
Name is the name of your project. Simply use the
same name at the design directory.
Top level entity specifies the master file in your de-
sign. Unless you have a specific reason, just use
the project name.

4. Click Finish
. Notice the voting entity as shown in
Figure 10.

The Quartus program has 4 windows:

Figure 8. New project Introduction page. • Project navigator: displays the design files in your
working directory and their relationships
• Tasks: shows the progress of design tasks
• Workspace: is the area where you enter the design
• Messages: displays messages from the tasks e.g. com-
piler, fitter, simulator

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 Getting Started with Quartus — 5/10

Project Navigator

Workspace

Tasks

Messages

Figure 10. Quartus layout.

6. Schematic Entry
In the design entry step you create a schematic or Block
Design File (.bdf ) that is the top-level design.

1. From the top menu, choose File å New å Block Symbol Tool Orthogonal Node Tool
Diagram/Schematic  File to create a new file (see Fig-
ure 11) then click OK
.

Figure 12. Quartus schematic editor.

3. Click Symbol Tool. A pop-up dialog box will appear as

shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13. Add new symbol.

Figure 11. New BDF.

4. Expand c:/altera/13.0/quartus/libraries,
2. The schematic entry window will appear on the work- expand primitives followed logic.
ing space as shown.

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 Getting Started with Quartus — 6/10


5. Select and2 and then check Repeat-insert mode and 9. Select input then click OK
.
then click OK
.

6. Place the three (3) and2 gates as shown in Figure 14

by clicking
 on the desired placing area and then press
the ESC
keyboard key to return back to the default
arrow cursor.

Figure 16. Adding an input pin.

10. Place the three (3) unit input pins.

Figure 14. Add 3 and2 gates.
11. Repeat step 9 and 10 for an output pin. By now we
should have our design entry such shown in Figure
7. Another way to add symbols is by clicking anywhere 17.
on the schematic editor working space. The Symbol
dialog box similar to Figure 13 will appear. At this
time, insert an or3 gate as shown in Figure 15.

Figure 17. All gates entered.

12. Right-click on the top most input pin and click on

Properties. We should see a Pin Properties pop-up
dialog box (Figure 18).

Figure 15. Add or3 gate.

8. Next we will add the input/output pins. In the Symbol

dialog box, expand
c:/altera/13.0/quartus/libraries, expand
primitives followed by pin.

Figure 18. Pin Properties dialog box.

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 Getting Started with Quartus — 7/10

13. Rename the pin name as A. By default, the default 18. From the top menu, choose Processing å Start Compilation
value will set toVCC if not, select VCC as shown in . We can also simply click on Start Compilation button
Figure 18. Click OK
. on the toolbar. The compilation report is shown in
Figure
 21. For this tutorial, ignore all warnings. Click
14. Repeat the Step 13 for pin B and C and output pin V
OK .


15. Using the Orthogonal Node Tools on the schematic
toolbars Make the circuit connection for the Boolean
equation. We should see the schematics similar to
Figure 19.

Figure 21. Compilation success.

Figure 19. All pins renamed, and gates connected.

16. From the top menu, choose File å Save As...

Figure 20. Save the file.

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 Getting Started with Quartus — 8/10

7. Simulation 4. Go to Edit å insert and click insert node or bus. A

pop-up dialog box will appear as shown in Figure 24.
In order to simulate the design, we will enter the input sim-
ulation waveform.

1. Choose File å New å University Program  VWF to

create a new file (see Figure 22) then click OK
.

Figure 24. Insert node dialog.


5. Click Node Finder..
. A pop-up box will appear as
shown in Figure 25.

Figure 22. Create new waveform file.

2. Simulation waveform editor window will appear such

shown in Figure 23.

Figure 25. Node finder dialog.

6. Follow these steps:


(a) Set the Filter to Pins:all


(b) Click List

(c) Click the >>
button

(d) Click OK
on the Node Finder window

Figure 23. Blank waveform.

3. Go to View å Fit in Window to get the Vector Wave-

form at the workspace. We can also adjust the view
at our convenience through Zoom In and Zoom Out
tool.

Figure 26. Adding multiple nodes.

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 Getting Started with Quartus — 9/10

7. We will be brought back at theInsert Node or Bus box 10. Click input port symbol of input B to highlight the
as shown in Figure 26, click OK
. By stage we will whole frame of input B as shown in Figure 30.
see voting inputs A, B and C all goes LOW at time 0ns
to 100ns while voting output “V” is the output to be
determined as shown in Figure 27.

Figure 30. Waveform after selecting input B.

10. Next, click overwrite clock icon on the toolbar. pop-

Figure 27. Waveform after inserting nodes. up window will appear as shown in Figure 31 fill in
period 500ns then click OK
.
8. Highlight A by clicking on the input port symbol of
the port name (Figure 28.

Figure 28. Waveform after selecting input A.

Figure 31. Set period of B to 500 ns.

9. Click the Overwrite Clock icon on the toolbar and set

the period of signal A to 1000 ns. 11. Click port symbol of input C to highlight the whole
frame of the input C as shown in Figure 32.

Figure 32. Waveform after selecting input C.

12. Next, click a pop-up box will appear as shown in Fig-

ure 33. Fill -up
 transition occurrence to count every
125ns, click OK
.

Figure 29. Set period of B to 1000 ns.

Figure 33. Set count to 125 ns.

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 Getting Started with Quartus — 10/10

13. Go to File click Save as. A pop-up box will appear as Acknowledgments
shown in Figure 34, click Save
Thanks to Siti Nursyuhada binti Mahsahirun and Zulkifli
Md. Yusof, both of Faculty of Manufacturing, Universiti
Malaysia Pahang.

References
[1] Munim Zabidi, Izam Kamisian, and Ismahani Ismail.
The Art of Digital Design. 2019.
[2] Introduction to the Quartus® II Software. Version 10.
Altera. 2010. URL: https://www.intel.com/content/
dam / www / programmable / us / en / pdfs / literature /
manual/intro_to_quartus2.pdf.
[3] My First FPGA Design Tutorial. Altera. July 2008. URL:
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/programmable/
us/en/pdfs/literature/tt/tt_my_first_fpga.pdf.

Figure 34. Save the vector waveform.

14. Click run functional simulation icon on the toolbar.

If the simulation is successful, a new window will ap-
pear showing the result of simulated waveforms.

15. With corresponding input A, B and C, notice that V is

responding in accordance to our Boolean equation.
Therefore, out design is now functional verified.

Figure 35. Functional simulation output.

16. Next, click run timing simulation icon on the toolbar

the result as indicated in Figure 36. For simple simu-
lations such as this circuit, timing requirements is not
important. However, timing requirements are critical
in more complex designs.

Figure 36. Timing simulation output.

If we look closely or if we zoom in, we can see the

difference at the V output. In the functional simula-
tion output, V changes immediately after receiving
input changes. In the timing simulation, there is some
delay.

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