Summary of "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)

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