Altera® Quartus® Software: QED

Overview

This is a demo/tutorial for the Quartus Exploration Dashboard (QED) in Altera/Intel Quartus Prime Pro Edition v24.3. QED provides a unified GUI to analyze compilation reports across multiple Quartus projects, simplifying cross-project timing and resource analysis and helping optimize FPGA designs.

Key features and capabilities

• Unified workspace
  • Connect multiple Quartus projects into one workspace and group them for coordinated analysis.
• Single-command dispatch
  • Issue report/analysis commands (for example, report_timing) to all projects in a group and collect uniform outputs.
• Remote / cluster support
  • Run operations on a single machine or across a compute farm / SSH hosts.
  • Configure host names, credentials, and the Quartus executable (demo references an executable name that may be mistranscribed).
• Interactive GUI
  • Import and browse report folders for each project.
  • Open multiple reports in a single window and arrange panes via drag-and-drop.
• Consolidated reporting
  • Generate combined reports across projects (timing summaries, path reports, etc.) and drill down to per-project details (P summaries, statistics).
• Specialized reports
  • Timing recommendations (per path/register).
  • Merge-hierarchy placement summaries (instance placement across hierarchy for floorplanning).
  • Design Assistant reports (rules, recommendations, violations).
  • Other resource/timing distribution reports.
• Report commands
  • Example: a report_timing-like command to specify analysis type, clocks/targets, extra info and output options; applies to all projects in a group and saves combined analysis.
• Batch and offline modes
  • Offline mode: create precompiled exploration databases during compilation (via an exploration dashboard script in quartus_settings) and import them later for faster analysis.
  • Batch mode: run QED commands sequentially over many projects using a single compute resource to avoid overloads; includes a “generate default reports” task to produce a chosen set of reports.
• Workspace management
  • Add projects by directory, create/rename groups, view object status, launch remote connections per group or project, and load compilation databases.

Typical workflow (demo)

1. Launch QED from Quartus (command-line invocation shown in the demo).
2. Create a new workspace (name, allocation/execution settings).
3. Configure the execution environment (local or SSH/farm; set executable and host connection details).
4. Add projects (by directory) and optionally assign them to groups.
5. Launch remote connections for chosen groups/projects and load compilation databases.
6. Import reports (synthesis, fitter, timing analyzer, timing summaries, design assistant, etc.) via the import panel.
7. Use report panels and report_timing-like commands to create combined or path-specific timing reports across projects.
8. Inspect combined reports, select rows to see worst negative slack paths, and drill into per-project details.
9. Use drag-and-drop layout to compare multiple reports side-by-side.
10. For large runs, use offline or batch modes and the “generate default reports” task.

Benefits and intended use

• Saves time and avoids juggling multiple Quartus windows.
• Standardizes and consolidates reporting across many design variants or revisions.
• Helps compare timing closure, resource distribution, placement differences and guide optimizations (for example, floorplanning).
• Supports scalable operation modes to fit different flows and compute resources.

Tutorial / guidance items shown

• How to create and configure a QED workspace.
• How to add projects and create project groups.
• How to configure remote/SSH execution settings.
• How to import and browse compilation reports (fitter, timing analyzer, timing summaries).
• How to run cross-project timing reports and interpret combined vs. per-project data.
• How to use offline and batch modes and the “generate default reports” task.

Main speakers / sources

• Demo narrator from Altera/Intel (Quartus Exploration Dashboard tutorial).
• Product: Quartus Prime Pro Edition (Altera/Intel) — Exploration Dashboard (QED), v24.3.
• For further details: Quartus/Intel website and product documentation mentioned in the video.