Development Tools
Altera offers a variety of development tools to accelerate the embedded design process (see Figure 1.). Together with selected partners, Altera offers a range of software development tools, hardware development tools, and development kits that include everything you need to quickly and easily create and implement a design.
Figure 1. Development Tools to Accelerate Embedded Design

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Software Development Tools
Altera, along with its embedded software partners, offers a range of powerful tools for your software development needs.
Nios II Embedded Design Suite
The Nios® II Embedded Design Suite (EDS) is a collection of tools used to develop embedded software for the Nios II processor based on the familiar Eclipse development environment. The Nios II EDS includes the following:
Nios II EDS
Embedded Software Partners
Altera is proud to showcase several embedded software partners who provide the following products that support the Nios II processor.
- Operating systems
- Middleware
- Compilers
- IDEs
- Debuggers
- Co-verification tools
Hardware Development Tools
Altera offers a range of hardware development tools that enable the highest levels of productivity and the fastest path to design completion for high-density FPGA designs.
Quartus II FPGA System Design Tool
Altera’s Quartus® II software leads the industry as the most comprehensive environment available for FPGA designs, unmatched performance delivery, efficiency, and ease-of-use.
SOPC Builder System-Level Integration Tool
SOPC Builder eliminates manual system integration tasks and allows you to focus on custom user logic design to differentiate your system. All versions of the Altera® Quartus II design software include the SOPC Builder system generation tool.
SignalTap II Embedded Logic Analyzer
The SignalTap® II logic analyzer is a system-level debugging tool that captures and displays real-time signal behavior in a system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC), allowing you to observe interactions between hardware and software in system designs.
Quartus II software including SOPC Builder and SignalTap II
MegaCore IP Library
You can choose from Altera's comprehensive MegaCore® intellectual property (IP) library of peripheral functions such as integrated design environments (IDEs), UARTs, interrupt controllers, and PCI bus bridges to build a custom function optimized for specific applications.
Altera's rapidly growing portfolio of standard bus interfaces allows you to add chip-to-chip, board-to-board, or box-to-box connectivity to SOPC designs. The microsystems portfolio also includes megafunctions to seamlessly add external memory, Ethernet interfaces, PCI, PCI-X, universal serial bus (USB), and next-generation processor interfaces.
MegaCore IP Library
Development Kits
Altera offers a portfolio of feature-rich and easy-to-use Nios II processor development kits. These kits provide everything you need to create total SOPC solutions.
Nios II Development Kit, Cyclone II Edition
This is Altera's complete embedded system development kit for Nios II processors, featuring a Cyclone® II FPGA and DDR SDRAM memory. This kit includes all that you need to start designing low-cost, versatile embedded systems in minutes.
Nios II Development Kit, Stratix II Edition
This is Altera's full-featured development kit for the Nios II family of embedded processors, featuring a Stratix® II device. The kit includes everything you need to start designing high-performance embedded systems today.
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