SignalTap II is a tool that embeds a logic analyzer into your FPGA project so you can see what is happening in the design. Kiran made a video tutorial on the basics using Altera’s Quartus II IDE.
The advantage is that, there are no need to connect any wire or probe to the circuit. Every signal rooting is done internally. Here is the short video tutorial for the inbuilt logic analyzer comes with QuartusII software. Towards the end of the video, while running the SignaltapII analyser one can clearly see and analyse the PWM waveform.
So basically it is Xilinx’ Chipscope for Altera?
By the way, does anyone know if there are alternatives to chipscope cdc editor / analyzer? This software has obviously been programmed by people who coudln’t care less about ergonomy or bug free software (see intern developer syndrom), it makes me so mad I’m about to smash my laptop in the wall. If not I guess I’ll try to code an alternative set of tools which could edit .cdc files and visualize samplesets.
If anyone is interested I’ll open a thread on the forum, just let me know
“By the way, does anyone know if there are alternatives to chipscope cdc editor / analyzer? ”
Yes there are many……………
Please take a look at the EXPORT options in the editor, then do an internet search.
I’m not sure if it’s common knowledge or not, but Altera publishes a large number of free online courses related to using Quartus on their web site, including a 2-hour online training course on SignalTap II