Nios V

Nios V is a 32-bit embedded processor based on the RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) designed specifically for the Altera family of field-programmable gate array (FPGA).

Nios V is a successor to Altera's Nios II embedded processor, which had been the company's embedded processor offering for the previous 2 decades, but was discontinued by Intel in 2023. The migration to the RISC-V ISA transitions Altera's embedded processor offering away from a proprietary ISA to an open architecture with support for industry standard software development and compilation tools.

Nios V is offered in 3 different configurations: Nios V/g (general purpose), Nios V/m (microcontroller), and Nios V/c (compact microcontroller).

The Nios V/g processor is a general-purpose CPU core based on the RISC-V RV32IMZicsr_Zicbom instruction set (optionally with “F” extension):

• RV32IM(F)Zicsr_Zicbom
• Highest performance Nios V processor
• Supports RTOS embedded system

Nios V/m is a microcontroller core designed to maintain a balance between performance and FPGA resources and is based on the RV32IZicsr variant of the RISC-V architecture and supports either a pipelined or non-pipelined configuration:

• Balanced for performance and size
• Supports RTOS embedded system
• RV32IZicsr (Pipelined) & RV32IZicsr (Non-Pipelined)
  • Pipelined
    • Implements RV32IZicsr instruction set.
    • Supports five-stages pipelined datapath.
  • Non-pipelined
    • Implements RV32IZicsr instruction set.
    • Supports non-pipelined datapath.

The Nios V/c a compact microcontroller core is designed for smallest possible logic utilization in FPGAs, and is based on the RISC-V RV32I instruction set:

• Smallest Nios V processor for non-interrupt-driven control application
• No debug features
• RV32I

Nios V hardware designers use the Platform Designer system integration tool, a component of the Quartus FPGA development tools, to configure and generate a Nios V system. The configuration graphical user interface (GUI) allows users to choose the Nios V variant, and to add peripheral and I/O-blocks (timers, memory-controllers, serial interface, etc.) to the embedded system. When the hardware specification is complete, Quartus performs the synthesis, place & route to implement the entire system on the selected FPGA target.

• Nios II
• LatticeMico8
• LatticeMico32
• MicroBlaze
• PicoBlaze

• Nios II Embedded Design Suite forum
• RTEMS real-time operating system