FPGAs support different widths for the read and write port of the block
SRAM cells. The DMAC can make use of this feature when the source and
destination interface have a different width to up-size/down-size the data
bus.
Using memory cells with asymmetric port width consumes the same amount of
SRAM cells, but allows to bypass the re-size blocks inside the DMAC that
are otherwise used for up- and down-sizing. This reduces overall resource
usage and can improve timing.
If the ratio between the destination and source port is too larger to be
handled by SRAM alone the SRAM block will be configured to do partial up-
or down-sizing and a resize block will be inserted to take care of the
remaining up-/down-sizing. E.g. if a 256-bit interface is connected to a
32-bit interface the SRAM will be used to do an initial resizing of 256 bit
to 64 bit and a resize block will be used to do the remaining resizing from
64 bit to 32 bit.
Currently this feature is disabled for Intel FPGAs since Quartus does not
properly infer a block RAM with different read and write port widths from
the current ad_asym_mem module. Once that has been resolved support for
asymmetric memories can also be enabled in the DMAC.
Signed-off-by: Lars-Peter Clausen <lars@metafoo.de>
Currently the DMAC uses a simple FIFO as the store-and-forward buffer. The
FIFO handshaking is beat based whereas the remainder of the DMAC is burst
based. This means that additional control signals have to be combined with
the FIFO handshaking signal to generate the external handshaking signals.
Re-work the store-and-forward buffer to utilize a BRAM that is subdivided
into N segments. Where N is the maximum number of bursts that can be stored
in the buffer and each segment has the size of the maximum burst length.
Each segment stores the data associated with one burst and even when the
burst is shorter than the maximum burst length the next burst will be
stored in the next segment.
The new store-and-forward buffer takes care of generating all the
handshaking signals. This means handshaking is generated in a central place
and does not have to be combined from multiple data-paths simplifying the
overall logic.
The new store-and-forward buffer also takes care of data width up- and
down-sizing in case that the source and sink modules have a different data
width. This tighter integration will allow future enhancements like using
asymmetric memory.
This re-work lays the foundation of future enhancements to the DMA like
support for un-aligned transfers and early transfer abort which would have
been much more difficult to implement with the previous architecture.
In addition it significantly reduces the resource utilization of the
store-and-forward buffer and allows for better timing due to reduced
combinatorial path lengths.
Signed-off-by: Lars-Peter Clausen <lars@metafoo.de>
The DMAC allows a transfer to be aborted. When a transfer is aborted the
DMAC shuts down as fast as possible while still completing any pending
transactions as required by the protocol specifications of the port. E.g.
for AXI-MM this means to complete all outstanding bursts.
Once the DMAC has entered an idle state a special synchronization signal is
send to all modules. This synchronization signal instructs them to flush
the pipeline and remove any stale data and metadata associated with the
aborted transfer. Once all data has been flushed the DMAC enters the
shutdown state and is ready for the next transfer.
In addition each module has a reset that resets the modules state and is
used at system startup to bring them into a consistent state.
Re-work the shutdown process to instead of flushing the pipeline re-use the
startup reset signal also for shutdown.
To manage the reset signal generation introduce the reset manager module.
It contains a state machine that will assert the reset signals in the
correct order and for the appropriate duration in case of a transfer
shutdown.
The reset signal is asserted in all domains until it has been asserted for
at least 4 clock cycles in the slowest domain. This ensures that the reset
signal is not de-asserted in the faster domains before the slower domains
have had a chance to process the reset signal.
In addition the reset signal is de-asserted in the opposite direction of
the data flow. This ensures that the data sink is ready to receive data
before the data source can start sending data. This simplifies the internal
handshaking.
This approach has multiple advantages.
* Issuing a reset and removing all state takes less time than
explicitly flushing one sample per clock cycle at a time.
* It simplifies the logic in the faster clock domains at the expense of
more complicated logic in the slower control clock domain. This allows
for higher fMax on the data paths.
* Less signals to synchronize from the control domain to the data domains
The implementation of the pause mode has also slightly changed. Pause is
now a simple disable of the data domains. When the transfer is resumed
after a pause the data domains are re-enabled and continue at their
previous state.
Signed-off-by: Lars-Peter Clausen <lars@metafoo.de>
Move the transfer logic, including the 2d module, into its own sub-module.
This allows testing of the full transfer logic independently of the
register map logic.
The top-level module now only instantiates the register map and transfer
module, but does not have any logic on its own.
Signed-off-by: Lars-Peter Clausen <lars@metafoo.de>
Lars-Peter Clausen
Laszlo Nagy