This tutorial presents an introduction to ALTERa’s Nios R
II processor, which is a soft processor that can be in-
stantiated on an ALTERa FPGA device. It describes the basic architecture of Nios II and its instruction set. The NiosII processor and its associated memory and peripheral components are easily instantiated by using ALTERa’s SOPCBuilder in conjuction with the Quartus R II software.
ALTERa® provides various tools for development of hardware and software for embedded systems. This handbook complements the primary documentation for these tools by describing how to most effectively use the tools. It recommends design styles and practices for developing, debugging, and optimizing embedded systems using ALTERa-provided tools. The handbook introduces concepts to new users of ALTERa’s embedded solutions, and helps to increase the design efficiency of the experienced user.