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>
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