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Design Flow Guide for AT40KEL-DK
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INTRODUCTION
This document is merely a set of experiences collected during the work with the design
kit, AT40KEL-DK, from ATMEL. As a first approach only a very small design was
tested and when it was functional, more advanced designs were taken through the design
flow. This document walks you through the process step by step with inserted comments
and reflections. There are several ways of implementing a design into the device, but in
this document not all approaches are accounted for. For more information, please see the
documentation from ATMEL.
2
DESIGN FLOW GUIDE
This walkthrough is divided into two parts, where the first part describes the purely
software oriented elements and the second part the work directly related to the hardware.
2.1
Preparing the Design for Implementation
Included in the development kit is the System Designer 3.0. This software is mainly made
for the AT94 series and cannot be used for the AT40KEL FPGA alone. System Designer
lacks the right libraries to work with AT40KEL, the programs included in System
Designer must instead be used standalone. The software included are Modelsim,
Leonardo Spectrum and IDS Figaro. The design flow that is described below is illustrated
in figure 2-1 for a better understanding. The process behind most of the boxes in the
figure will be described in the following chapters.
Figure 2-1. Design Flow