Avalon® Interface Specifications

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ID 683091
Date 1/24/2022
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Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. Introduction to the Avalon® Interface Specifications 2. Avalon® Clock and Reset Interfaces 3. Avalon® Memory-Mapped Interfaces 4. Avalon® Interrupt Interfaces 5. Avalon® Streaming Interfaces 6. Avalon® Streaming Credit Interfaces 7. Avalon® Conduit Interfaces 8. Avalon® Tristate Conduit Interface A. Deprecated Signals B. Document Revision History for the Avalon® Interface Specifications
1. Introduction to the Avalon® Interface Specifications x
1.1. Avalon® Properties and Parameters 1.2. Signal Roles 1.3. Interface Timing 1.4. Example: Avalon® Interfaces in System Designs
2. Avalon® Clock and Reset Interfaces x
2.1. Avalon® Clock Sink Signal Roles 2.2. Clock Sink Properties 2.3. Associated Clock Interfaces 2.4. Avalon® Clock Source Signal Roles 2.5. Clock Source Properties 2.6. Reset Sink 2.7. Reset Sink Interface Properties 2.8. Associated Reset Interfaces 2.9. Reset Source 2.10. Reset Source Interface Properties
3. Avalon® Memory-Mapped Interfaces x
3.1. Introduction to Avalon® Memory-Mapped Interfaces 3.2. Avalon® Memory Mapped Interface Signal Roles 3.3. Interface Properties 3.4. Timing 3.5. Transfers 3.6. Address Alignment 3.7. Avalon® -MM Agent Addressing
3.5. Transfers x
3.5.1. Typical Read and Write Transfers 3.5.2. Transfers Using the waitrequestAllowance Property 3.5.3. Read and Write Transfers with Fixed Wait-States 3.5.4. Pipelined Transfers 3.5.5. Burst Transfers 3.5.6. Read and Write Responses
3.5.2. Transfers Using the waitrequestAllowance Property x
3.5.2.1. waitrequestAllowance Equals Two 3.5.2.2. waitrequestAllowance Equals One 3.5.2.3. waitrequestAllowance Equals Two - Not Recommended 3.5.2.4. waitrequestAllowance Compatibility for Avalon® -MM Host and Agent Interfaces 3.5.2.5. waitrequestAllowance Error Conditions
3.5.4. Pipelined Transfers x
3.5.4.1. Pipelined Read Transfer with Variable Latency 3.5.4.2. Pipelined Read Transfers with Fixed Latency
3.5.5. Burst Transfers x
3.5.5.1. Write Bursts 3.5.5.2. Read Bursts 3.5.5.3. Line–Wrapped Bursts
3.5.6. Read and Write Responses x
3.5.6.1. Transaction Order for Avalon® -MM Read and Write Responses (Hosts and Agents) 3.5.6.2. Avalon® -MM Read and Write Responses Timing Diagram
3.5.6.2. Avalon® -MM Read and Write Responses Timing Diagram x
3.5.6.2.1. minimumResponseLatency Timing Diagram with readdatavalid or writeresponsevalid
4. Avalon® Interrupt Interfaces x
4.1. Interrupt Sender 4.2. Interrupt Receiver
4.1. Interrupt Sender x
4.1.1. Avalon® Interrupt Sender Signal Roles 4.1.2. Interrupt Sender Properties
4.2. Interrupt Receiver x
4.2.1. Avalon® Interrupt Receiver Signal Roles 4.2.2. Interrupt Receiver Properties 4.2.3. Interrupt Timing
5. Avalon® Streaming Interfaces x
5.1. Terms and Concepts 5.2. Avalon® Streaming Interface Signal Roles 5.3. Signal Sequencing and Timing 5.4. Avalon® -ST Interface Properties 5.5. Typical Data Transfers 5.6. Signal Details 5.7. Data Layout 5.8. Data Transfer without Backpressure 5.9. Data Transfer with Backpressure 5.10. Packet Data Transfers 5.11. Signal Details 5.12. Protocol Details
5.3. Signal Sequencing and Timing x
5.3.1. Synchronous Interface 5.3.2. Clock Enables
5.9. Data Transfer with Backpressure x
5.9.1. Data Transfers Using readyLatency and readyAllowance 5.9.2. Data Transfers Using readyLatency
6. Avalon® Streaming Credit Interfaces x
6.1. Terms and Concepts 6.2. Avalon® Streaming Credit Interface Signal Roles 6.3. Avalon® Streaming Credit User Signals
6.2. Avalon® Streaming Credit Interface Signal Roles x
6.2.1. Synchronous Interface 6.2.2. Typical Data Transfers 6.2.3. Returning the Credits
6.3. Avalon® Streaming Credit User Signals x
6.3.1. Per-Symbol User Signal 6.3.2. Per-Packet User Signal
7. Avalon® Conduit Interfaces x
7.1. Avalon® Conduit Signal Roles 7.2. Conduit Properties
8. Avalon® Tristate Conduit Interface x
8.1. Avalon® Tristate Conduit Signal Roles 8.2. Tristate Conduit Properties 8.3. Tristate Conduit Timing
1. Introduction to the Avalon® Interface Specifications
2. Avalon® Clock and Reset Interfaces
3. Avalon® Memory-Mapped Interfaces
4. Avalon® Interrupt Interfaces
5. Avalon® Streaming Interfaces
6. Avalon® Streaming Credit Interfaces
7. Avalon® Conduit Interfaces
8. Avalon® Tristate Conduit Interface
A. Deprecated Signals
B. Document Revision History for the Avalon® Interface Specifications

1.4. Example: Avalon® Interfaces in System Designs

In this example the Ethernet Controller includes six different interface types:

  • Avalon® -MM
  • Avalon® -ST
  • Avalon® Conduit
  • Avalon® -TC
  • Avalon® Interrupt
  • Avalon® Clock.

The Nios® II processor accesses the control and status registers of on-chip components through an Avalon® -MM interface. The scatter gather DMAs send and receive data through Avalon® -ST interfaces. Four components include interrupt interfaces serviced by software running on the Nios II processor. A PLL accepts a clock via an Avalon® Clock Sink interface and provides two clock sources. Two components include Avalon® -TC interfaces to access off-chip memories. Finally, the DDR3 controller accesses external DDR3 memory through an Avalon® Conduit interface.

Figure 1.  Avalon® Interfaces in a System Design with Scatter Gather DMA Controller and Nios® II Processor

In the following figure, an external processor accesses the control and status registers of on-chip components via an external bus bridge with an Avalon® -MM interface. The PCI Express Root Port controls devices on the printed circuit board and the other components of the FPGA by driving an on-chip PCI Express Endpoint with an Avalon® -MM host interface. An external processor handles interrupts from five components. A PLL accepts a reference clock via a Avalon® Clock sink interface and provides two clock sources. The flash and SRAM memories share FPGA pins through an Avalon® -TC interface. Finally, an SDRAM controller accesses an external SDRAM memory through an Avalon® Conduit interface.

Figure 2.  Avalon® Interfaces in a System Design with PCI Express Endpoint and External Processor
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