8–8
Altera Corporation
Stratix II Device Handbook, Volume 2
January 2008
Remote System Upgrade Modes
set to zero: StAdd[23..0] = {1'b0, PGM[6..0], 16'b0}. During
AS configuration, Stratix II and Stratix II GX FPGAs use this 24-bit page
start address to obtain configuration data from the serial configuration
devices.
Remote System
Upgrade Modes
Remote system upgrade has two modes of operation: remote update
mode and local update mode. The remote and local update modes allow
you to determine the functionality of your system upon power up and
offer different features. The RUnLU input pin selects between the remote
update (logic high) and local update (logic low) modes.
Overview
In remote update mode, Stratix II and Stratix II GX FPGAs load the
factory configuration image upon power up. The user-defined factory
configuration should determine which application configuration is to be
loaded and trigger a reconfiguration cycle. Remote update mode allows
up to eight configuration images (one factory plus seven application
images) when used with the MAX II device or microprocessor and
flash-based configuration or an enhanced configuration device.
When used with serial configuration devices, the remote update mode
allows an application configuration to start at any flash sector boundary.
This translates to a maximum of 128 pages in the EPCS64 and 32 pages in
the EPCS16 device, where the minimum size of each page is 512 KBits.
Additionally, the remote update mode features a user watchdog timer
that can detect functional errors in an application configuration.
Local update mode is a simplified version of the remote update mode. In
this mode, Stratix II and Stratix II GX FPGAs directly load the application
configuration, bypassing the factory configuration. This mode is useful if
your system is required to boot into user mode with minimal startup
time. It is also useful during system prototyping, as it allows you to verify
functionality of the application configuration.
In local update mode, a maximum of two configuration images or pages
is supported: one factory configuration, located at page address
PGM[2..0] = 000
, and one application configuration, located at page
address PGM[2..0] = 001. Because the page address of the application
configuration is fixed, the local update mode does not require the factory
configuration image to determine which application is to be loaded. If
any errors are encountered while loading the application configuration,
Stratix II and Stratix II GX FPGAs revert to the factory configuration. The
user watchdog timer feature is not supported in this mode.