Altera Quartus II Scripting - Manual (Page 82)

2–56 Chapter 2: Command-line Executables
quartus_pow
Quartus II Scripting Reference Manual © July 2013 Altera Corporation
The input_saf option should not be used if either the no_input_file or input_vcd option is specified. If
neither the no_input_file, input_saf or input_vcd option is specified, then the settings in the QSF are used
to determine the behavior of the Power Analyzer.
--input_vcd[=<VCD Filename>]
Option to use the specified VCD File (.vcd) as input. If no filenames are specified then the filenames stored
in the Quartus II Settings File (.qsf) are used or if no filenames exist in the QSF, then <revision name>.vcd
will be used. This command line option can appear multiple times in the case that multiple VCD files are
required.
The input_vcd option should not be used if either the no_input_file or input_saf option is specified. If
none of the no_input_file, input_saf or input_vcd option is specified, then the settings in the QSF are used
to determine the behavior of the Power Analyzer.
--no_input_file
Option to instruct the Power Analyzer not to use an input file to initialize the toggle rates and static
probabilities for output signals in the design.
The no_input_file option should not be used if either the input_saf or input_vcd option is specified. If
neither the no_input_file, input_saf or input_vcd option is specified, then the settings in the Quartus II
Settings File (.qsf) are used to determine the behavior of the Power Analyzer.
--output_epe=<EPE Filename>
Option to write an Early Power Estimation file, summarizing the resources used by the design. The file
can be used to import design information into the PowerPlay Early Power Estimator spreadsheet available
from the Altera website.
The design must be compiled before the Early Power Estimator file can be written.
This command line option may only appear once.
--output_saf=<SAF Filename>
Option to write out the toggle rates and static probabilities used by the Power Analyzer during the power
analysis to the specified Signal Activity File (.saf). This command line option can only appear once.
--use_vectorless_estimation[=on|off]
Option to specify whether or not vectorless estimation should be used to calculate unspecified toggle rates
and static probabilities for the output signals in the design. If set to "on" then vectorless estimation is used
by the PowerPlay Power Analyzer and the --default_toggle_rate command line option or the value stored
in the Quartus II Settings File (.qsf) will be ignored. If set to "off" then the PowerPlay Power Analyzer uses
the value specified by the command line option --default_toggle_rate or the value stored in the Quartus II
Settings File (.qsf) as the default toggle rate.
This command line option can only appear once. If this command line option is not used, then the value
stored in the Quartus II Settings File (.qsf) is used to determine whether or not vectorless estimation is
used. This command line option only applies to the Stratix II and MAX II families and is ignored for all
other families. For all other families the behaviour is equivalent to this command line option being set to
"off".