Cyclone III pulse generator

[Altera_Forum]

Hello, 

 I'm designing a PCB with a Cyclone III FPGA. Now I would like to have a few output (block) signals adjustable in frequency (100KHz - 1MHz), duty-cycle and phase.  My questions: - Can I use every I/O pin on the FPGA? ( so I can order my PCB ) - How should I program my FPGA? - Can I use the Altera Quartus II Web edition to program my FPGA?  Kind regards,  Frans.

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Frans 

   --- Quote Start ---   - Can I use every I/O pin on the FPGA? ( so I can order my PCB )   --- Quote End ---   Yes. Provided the pin is a generic I/O and not a dedicated pin (i.e. jtag, config, ...). Quartus pin planner will guide you in connecting your signals to right pins.    --- Quote Start ---   - How should I program my FPGA?   --- Quote End ---   There are many configuring options. Usually you want to use jtag in debug phase and then a serial eprom when the board is deployed. Refer to the documentation of the device you want to use.    --- Quote Start ---   - Can I use the Altera Quartus II Web edition to program my FPGA?   --- Quote End ---   Sure.  Unless you are planing to use a big high end device (and I don't think this is your case), you can use Quartus Web Ed. for the complete design flow, from scratch to release.  Regarding your question about fpga programmable functions the answer is again yes. You can virtually program fpga for any function. The limit is your fantasy, besides device resources. The freq modulator and pwm you need is one of the basic function, very easy to implement.   Regards Cris

[Altera_Forum]

Cris, 

 Thank you for your response! That was very helpful. Do you know where I can find an example project (VHDL) for such a pulse generator?  Other question: Do I need to connect a crystal to the FPGA ( EP3C10E144C8N ) or does it has it's own internal clock?   Kind regards, Frans.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---   Do you know where I can find an example project (VHDL) for such a pulse generator?    --- Quote End ---    Browse the web: there are a lot of VHDL tutorials available online and most of them offer these kind of code samples. You must select the one which meets your needs.  Take also a look to www.opencores.com    --- Quote Start ---   Other question: Do I need to connect a crystal to the FPGA ( EP3C10E144C8N ) or does it has it's own internal clock?    --- Quote End ---    You can't use a crystal nor internal clock. You must connect to a active clock. If you have never designed with FPGAs you'd better look at the schematics of the Cyclone starter kit: you'll find it on Altera website; there's also a lot of literature and tutorials which can help you.