Intel® Cyclone® 10 LP FPGA – AN 494: GPIO Pin Expansion Using I2C Bus Interface Design Example

Intel® Cyclone® 10 LP FPGA – AN 494: GPIO Pin Expansion Using I2C Bus Interface Design Example

714713
6/21/2017

Introduction

In some cases, it may be required to have access to the GPIO pins from a relatively long PCB trace path within the system, such as in the two different parts of a clamshell cell phone. Because the I2C interface is a two-wire system, the design provides multiple input and output pins at the remote end with just a common two-wire trace. This provides increased design flexibility and also adds to the physical compactness of the entire system. It also enables smaller packaging and a reduced pin count. Devices such as fan controllers, LED status displays, and status indicators can be easily connected and controlled via the general-purpose output pins. Similarly, devices such as reset pins and push button switches can be easily coupled to the general-purpose inputs provided on the FPGA to serve various applications.

Design Details

Device Family

Intel® Cyclone® 10 LP FPGA

Quartus Edition

Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition

Quartus Version

17.0

IP Cores (0)

Detailed Description

Prepare the design template in the Quartus Prime software GUI (version 14.1 and later)


Note: After downloading the design example, you must prepare the design template. The file you downloaded is of the form of a <project>.par file which contains a compressed version of your design files (similar to a .qar file) and metadata describing the project. The combination of this information is what constitutes a <project>.par file. In releases 16.0 or newer, you can simply double click on the <project>.par file and Quartus will launch that project.


The second means to bring up the project template is through the New Project Wizard (File -> New Project Wizard). After entering the project name and folder on the first panel, the second panel will ask you to specify an empty project or project template. Select project template. You will see a list of Design Templates projects that you have loaded prior as well as various "Baseline Pinout Designs" that contain the pinout and settings for a variety of development kits. If you don't see your design template in the list, click on the link that states install the Design Templates circled below:



Browse to the <project>.par file you downloaded, click next, followed by Finish, and your design template will be installed and displayed in the Project Navigator pane in Quartus.


Note: When a design is stored in the Design Store as a design template, it has been previously regression tested against the stated version of Quartus software. The regression ensures the design template passes analysis/synthesis/fitting/assembly steps in the Quartus design flow.



Prepare the design template in the Quartus Prime software command-line


At the command-line, type the following command:

quartus_sh --platform_install -package <project directory>/<project>.par


Once the process completes, then type:

quartus_sh --platform -name <project>

Design Details

Device Family

Intel® Cyclone® 10 LP FPGA

Quartus Edition

Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition

Quartus Version

17.0