ARM NIC-301 User Manual

AMBA® Network Interconnect (NIC-301)

Revision: r2p1

Technical Reference Manual

ARM DDI 0397G (ID031010)

AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301)

Technical Reference Manual

Release Information

The following changes have been made to this book.

Date Issue Confidentiality Change

05 May 2006 A Non-Confidential First release for r0p0.

19 September 2006 B Confidential First release for r1p0.

06 July 2007 C Confidential First release for r1p1.

02 October 2007 D Confidential First release for r1p2.

22 April 2008 E Confidential Second release for r1p2. Updates to the following:

• Decode register

• Read acceptance capability and write acceptance capability

• Write issuing capability

• Narrow to wide translation

• Physical data.

03 November 2009 F Non-Confidential First release for r2p0.

19 February 2010 G Non-Confidential First issue for r2p1.

Change history

Proprietary Notice

Words and logos marked with

or © are registered trademarks or trademarks of ARM in the EU and other countries, except as otherwise stated below in this proprietary notice. Other brands and names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Neither the whole nor any part of the information contained in, or the product described in, this document may be adapted or reproduced in any material form except with the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

The product described in this document is subject to continuous developments and improvements. All particulars of the product and its use contained in this document are given by ARM in good faith. However, all warranties implied or expressed, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, or fitness for purpose, are excluded.

This document is intended only to assist the reader in the use of the product. ARM shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from the use of any information in this document, or any error or omission in such information, or any incorrect use of the product.

Where the term ARM is used it means “ARM or any of its subsidiaries as appropriate”.

Confidentiality Status

This document is Non-Confidential. The right to use, copy and disclose this document may be subject to license restrictions in accordance with the terms of the agreement entered into by ARM and the party that ARM delivered this document to.

Unrestricted Access is an ARM internal classification.

Product Status

The information in this document is final, that is for a developed product.

Web Address

http://www.arm.com

AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301) Technical Reference Manual

Preface

About this book ............................................................................................................... vii

Feedback ......................................................................................................................... ix

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 About the AMBA Network Interconnect ........................................................................ 1-2

1.2 Key features .................................................................................................................. 1-3

1.3 Relationship between AMBA Network Interconnect and AMBA Designer .................... 1-4

1.4 Product revisions .......................................................................................................... 1-5

Chapter 2 Functional Description

2.1 About the functions ....................................................................................................... 2-2

2.2 Interfaces ...................................................................................................................... 2-3

2.3 Operation .................................................................................................................... 2-12

Chapter 3 Programmers Model

3.1 About this programmers model ..................................................................................... 3-2

3.2 Configuration programmers model ............................................................................... 3-3

Appendix A Revisions

Glossary

List of Tables

AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301) Technical Reference Manual

Change history ................................................................................................................................ ii

Table 2-1 Combination of configuration parameters ................................................................................... 2-4

Table 2-2 AXI burst type to AHB burst type mapping ................................................................................. 2-9

Table 2-3 Conversion of INCR bursts by the upsize function ................................................................... 2-13

Table 2-4 Conversion of WRAP bursts by the upsize function ................................................................. 2-13

Table 2-5 Conversion of INCR bursts by the downsize function ............................................................... 2-14

Table 2-6 Conversion of FIXED bursts by the downsize function ............................................................. 2-15

Table 2-7 How to change modes .............................................................................................................. 2-16

Table 3-1 Registers for each ASIB .............................................................................................................. 3-4

Table 3-2 Registers for each IB .................................................................................................................. 3-5

Table 3-3 Registers for each AMIB ............................................................................................................. 3-6

Table 3-4 Address region control registers ................................................................................................. 3-7

Table 3-5 Peripheral ID registers ................................................................................................................ 3-8

Table A-1 Differences between issue E and issue F ................................................................................... A-1

Table A-2 Differences between issue F and issue G .................................................................................. A-2

List of Figures

AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301) Technical Reference Manual

Figure 1-1 AMBA Network Interconnect top-level block diagram ................................................................. 1-2

Figure 2-1 No remap, remap set to 000 ..................................................................................................... 2-22

Figure 2-2 Remap set to 001 ...................................................................................................................... 2-22

Figure 2-3 Remap set to 010 ...................................................................................................................... 2-22

Figure 2-4 Remap set to 011 ...................................................................................................................... 2-23

Figure 2-5 Remap set to 101 ...................................................................................................................... 2-23

Figure 3-1 Address map of the programmers model .................................................................................... 3-3

Preface

This preface introduces the AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301). It contains the following

sections:

• About this book on page vii

• Feedback on page ix.

About this book

Product revision status

Intended audience

Using this book

Preface

This book is for AMBA Network Interconnect.

The rnpn identifier indicates the revision status of the product described in this book, where:

rn Identifies the major revision of the product.

pn Identifies the minor revision or modification status of the product.

This book is written for system designers, system integrators, and programmers who are designing or programming a System-on-Chip (SoC) that uses the AMBA Network Interconnect.

This book is organized into the following chapters:

Chapter 1 Introduction

Read this for a high-level view of the AMBA Network Interconnect and a description of its features.

Conventions

Chapter 2 Functional Description

Read this for a description of the major interfaces and components of the AMBA Network Interconnect. The chapter also describes how they operate.

Chapter 3 Programmers Model

Read this for a description the address map and registers of the AMBA Network Interconnect.

Appendix A Revisions

Read this for a description of the technical changes between released issues of this book.

Glossary Read this for definitions of terms used in this book.

Conventions that this book can use are described in:

• Typographical.

• Signals on page viii.

Typographical

The typographical conventions are:

italic Highlights important notes, introduces special terminology, denotes

internal cross-references, and citations.

bold Highlights interface elements, such as menu names. Denotes signal

names. Also used for terms in descriptive lists, where appropriate.

monospace

Denotes text that you can enter at the keyboard, such as commands, file

and program names, and source code.

Preface

Additional reading

monospace

Denotes a permitted abbreviation for a command or option. You can enter

the underlined text instead of the full command or option name.

monospace italic

Denotes arguments to monospace text where the argument is to be

replaced by a specific value.

monospace bold

Denotes language keywords when used outside example code.

< and > Enclose replaceable terms for assembler syntax where they appear in code

or code fragments. For example:

MRC p15, 0 <Rd>, <CRn>, <CRm>, <Opcode_2>

Signals

The signal conventions are:

Signal level The level of an asserted signal depends on whether the signal is

active-HIGH or active-LOW. Asserted means:

• HIGH for active-HIGH signals

• LOW for active-LOW signals.

Lower-case n At the start or end of a signal name denotes an active-LOW signal.

This section lists publications by ARM and by third parties.

See Infocenter, http://infocenter.arm.com, for access to ARM documentation.

ARM publications

This book contains information that is specific to this product. See the following documents for other relevant information:

• AMBA

Network Interconnect (NIC-301) Integration Manual (ARM DII 0157)

• AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301) Implementation Guide (ARM DII 0222)

• AMBA Designer (ADR-301) User Guide (ARM DUI 0333)

• AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301) Supplement to AMBA Designer (ADR-301) User Guide (ARM DSU 0003)

• AMBA AXI Protocol v1.0 Specification (ARM IHI 0022)

• AMBA 3 AHB-Lite Protocol v1.0 Specification (ARM IHI 0033)

• AMBA 3 APB Protocol v1.0 Specification (ARM IHI 0024)

• APB Rev E Specification (ARM IHI 0009).

Feedback

ARM welcomes feedback on this product and its documentation.

Feedback on this product

If you have any comments or suggestions about this product, contact your supplier and give:

• The product name.

• The product revision or version.

• An explanation with as much information as you can provide. Include symptoms and

Feedback on content

Preface

diagnostic procedures if appropriate.

If you have comments on content then send an e-mail to

errata@arm.com

. Give:

• the title

• the number, ARM DDI 0397G

• the page numbers to which your comments apply

• a concise explanation of your comments.

ARM also welcomes general suggestions for additions and improvements.

Chapter 1

Introduction

This chapter introduces the AMBA Network Interconnect. It contains the following sections:

• About the AMBA Network Interconnect on page 1-2

• Key features on page 1-3

• Relationship between AMBA Network Interconnect and AMBA Designer on page 1-4

• Product revisions on page 1-5.

1.1 About the AMBA Network Interconnect

Switch

Interface

Block (IB)

AMIB

ASIB

Distributed Global

Programmers

View (GPV)

Default

slave

AXI AXI

AMBA

master

interface

AXI

signals

AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301)

Routing omitted

for clarity

AMBA

master

interface

AMBA

slave

interface

AMBA

slave

interface

ASIB

AMBA

slave

interface

AXI

Switch

AXI

signals

AMIB

AMBA

master

interface

AXI

signals

The AMBA Network Interconnect is a highly configurable component that enables you to create a complete high performance, optimized AMBA-compliant network infrastructure. The possible configurations for the AMBA Network Interconnect can range from a single bridge component, for example an AHB to AXI protocol bridge, to a complex infrastructure that consists of up to 128 masters and 64 slaves of a combination of different AMBA protocols.

An AMBA Network Interconnect configuration can consist of multiple switches with many topology options. Figure 1-1 shows a top-level block diagram of the AMBA Network Interconnect that contains:

• multiple switches

• multiple AMBA Slave Interface Blocks (ASIBs)

• multiple AMBA Master Interface Blocks (AMIBs).

Introduction

Figure 1-1 AMBA Network Interconnect top-level block diagram

1.2 Key features

Introduction

The AMBA Network Interconnect is a highly configurable infrastructure component that supports:

• 1-128 AXI or AHB-Lite slave interfaces.

• 1-64 master interfaces that can be AXI, AHB-Lite, APB2, or APB3.

• Configuration of:

— an APB port to support 1-16 slaves

— an AXI port to support four region control bits.

• Single-cycle arbitration.

• Full pipelining to prevent master stalls.

• Programmable control for FIFO transaction release.

• Multiple switch networks.

• Complex topologies, including Network On Chip (NOC) loop-back connections between switches.

• Up to five cascaded switch networks between any master and slave interface pair.

• AXI or AHB-Lite masters and slaves with:

— an address width of 32-64 bits

— a data width of 32, 64, 128, or 256 bits.

• Non-contiguous APB slave address map for a single master interface.

• Independent widths of user-defined sideband signals for each channel.

• Global Programmers View (GPV) for the entire infrastructure that you can configure so that any master, or a discrete configuration slave interface, can access it. See Chapter 3 Programmers Model.

• Highly flexible timing closure options.

1.3 Relationship between AMBA Network Interconnect and AMBA Designer

AMBA Designer is a configuration tool that generates a specific implementation of an AMBA Network Interconnect. AMBA Designer drives the AMBA Network Interconnect generation engine to provide the following for a set of configuration parameters and implementation scripts:

• Verilog Register Transfer Level (RTL)

• testbench and stimulus synthesis scripts.

The documentation suites and implementation scripts for the AMBA Network Interconnect and AMBA Designer are designed to be used together to describe the principles of the AMBA Network Interconnect and the actual configuration options. There is no duplication between the two sets of documentation. The following sections describe the information that each documentation suite provides:

• AMBA Network Interconnect documentation

• AMBA Designer documentation.

1.3.1 AMBA Network Interconnect documentation

The AMBA Network Interconnect documentation consists of:

TRM The Technical Reference Manual (TRM) describes how to create the transfer

function and possible capabilities of the network component and how to dynamically change it using the programmers model.

Introduction

IG The Implementation Guide (IG) describes how to set up the network environment

and how to use it to run RTL simulations or implementation scripts.

IM The Integration Manual (IM) describes how to integrate a configured network

into a larger subsystem.

1.3.2 AMBA Designer documentation

The AMBA Designer (FD001) User Guide describes how to:

• Install AMBA Designer.

• Generate and verify RTL sub-systems of ARM IP.

• Stitch ARM components together. ARM components conform to the IP-XACT from the SPIRIT Consortium

The AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301) Supplement to AMBA Designer (ADR-301) User Guide describes how to produce a customized infrastructure.

™

standard

1.4 Product revisions

This section describes differences in functionality between product revisions of the AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301):

r0p0-r1p0 Contains the following differences in functionality:

r1p0-r1p1 Contains the following differences in functionality:

Introduction

• support for 128-bit data width on AXI and all AHB variant interfaces

• support for n-bit addressing on AXI and all AHB variant interfaces, where n is 32-64 bit inclusive

• the decode register is a slave interface property instead of a global property

• single-slave-per-ID Cyclic Dependency Avoidance Scheme (CDAS)

• ID register and configuration data

• use of updated synchronous bridges

• use of an AHB to AXI bridge optimized for accessing memory where appropriate.

• Separation of arbitration of AW and AR channels so that a slave can accept transactions from two different masters simultaneously.

• Changes to the way that the AMBA Network Interconnect handles LOCKed transactions.

• Configurable arbitration schemes, that can be:

— programmable Least Recently Granted (LRG), the scheme present in

r1p0

— a non-programmable Round-Robin (RR) scheme.

• You can select and configure arbitration schemes for each master interface.

• The APB programming interface enables you to program and interrogate the new, separate arbitration schemes.

• The AHB to AXI bridge is optimized for accessing memory is updated with performance enhancements, and to fix a defect.

• The way arbitration schemes are described has changed to enable you to select and configure arbitration schemes.

•The Quality of Service (QoS) tidemark value now represents the maximum permitted number of active transactions before the QoS mechanism is activated, instead of the minimum number of unused slots before the mechanism is activated. This means the combined acceptance capability attribute of a master interface is no longer required.

r1p1-r1p2 Contains the following differences in functionality:

• Updates to the example synthesis scripts.

• Addition of a programmable version of the fixed round-robin arbitration scheme.

• Shortening some long paths to improve synthesis performance.

• A change to the way register slices are instantiated. This makes it easier to use them to resolve timing issues during synthesis.

• The choice of CDAS is independent for reads and writes.

• Additional configuration option for the single-slave-per-ID CDAS that permits only a single data-active write transaction to be in progress.

r1p2-r2p0 Contains the following differences in functionality:

• Network of interconnects instead of a single interconnect

• Optimized translation latency replaces additive translation latency

• Single cycle arbitration instead of arbitration switching delay

• Enhanced buffering to reduce stalls

• Multiple outstanding downsizer transactions instead of limited outstanding downsizer transactions

• Upsizer packs data into the wide bus, instead of an expander, for data width changes

• Global dynamic QoS instead of local static QoS

• Internally programmable instead of externally programmed

• System-level address map replaces an address map for each interconnect

• Extended timing closure options replace limited timing closure options

• 256-bit maximum data width instead of 128-bit maximum data width

• Multi-region slave support replaces a single region per slave

• Write FIFO, transaction release control instead of fixed write transaction release point.

See Appendix A Revisions.

Introduction

r2p0-r2p1 Contains no differences in functionality.

Chapter 2

Functional Description

This chapter describes the functionality of the AMBA Network Interconnect. It contains the following sections:

• About the functions on page 2-2

• Interfaces on page 2-3

• Operation on page 2-12.

2.1 About the functions

You can consider the AMBA Network Interconnect to be built from functions that each have their own transfer function. A transfer function can:

• a domain crossing, for example:

— clock domain crossing

— data width crossing.

• used to create timing isolation, for optimizing critical network paths for latency.

Within a domain, a switch, or multiple switches, can exist to enable routing paths between any slave interface to any master interface.

The functions are configured into routing switches or Interface Blocks (IBs) and you can use AMBA Designer to create highly complex topologies using these modules. For more information, see the AMBA Designer (ADR-301) User Guide and AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301) Supplement to AMBA Designer (ADR-301) User Guide.

Functional Description

+ 37 hidden pages

ARM NIC-301 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

List of Tables

List of Figures

Preface

About this book

Product revision status

Intended audience

Using this book

Conventions

Additional reading

Feedback

Feedback on this product

Feedback on content

Introduction

1.1 About the AMBA Network Interconnect

1.2 Key features

1.3 Relationship between AMBA Network Interconnect and AMBA Designer

1.3.1 AMBA Network Interconnect documentation

1.3.2 AMBA Designer documentation

1.4 Product revisions

Functional Description

2.1 About the functions