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. Introduction to the Avalon® Interface Specifications

Updated for:
Intel® Quartus® Prime Design Suite 20.1
Avalon® interfaces simplify system design by allowing you to easily connect components in Intel® FPGA. The Avalon® interface family defines interfaces appropriate for streaming high-speed data, reading and writing registers and memory, and controlling off-chip devices. Components available in Platform Designer incorporate these standard interfaces. Additionally, you can incorporate Avalon® interfaces in custom components, enhancing the interoperability of designs.

This specification defines all the Avalon® interfaces. After reading this specification, you should understand which interfaces are appropriate for your components and which signal roles to use for particular behaviors. This specification defines the following seven interfaces:

  • Avalon® Streaming Interface ( Avalon® -ST)—an interface that supports the unidirectional flow of data, including multiplexed streams, packets, and DSP data.
  • Avalon® Memory Mapped Interface ( Avalon® -MM)—an address-based read/write interface typical of Host-Agent connections.
  • Avalon® Conduit Interface— an interface type that accommodates individual signals or groups of signals that do not fit into any of the other Avalon® types. You can connect conduit interfaces inside a Platform Designer system. Alternatively, you can export them to connect to other modules in the design or to FPGA pins.
  • Avalon® Tri-State Conduit Interface ( Avalon® -TC) —an interface to support connections to off-chip peripherals. Multiple peripherals can share pins through signal multiplexing, reducing the pin count of the FPGA and the number of traces on the PCB.
  • Avalon® Interrupt Interface—an interface that allows components to signal events to other components.
  • Avalon® Clock Interface—an interface that drives or receives clocks.
  • Avalon® Reset Interface—an interface that provides reset connectivity.

A single component can include any number of these interfaces and can also include multiple instances of the same interface type.

Note: Avalon® interfaces are an open standard. No license or royalty is required to develop and sell products that use or are based on Avalon® interfaces.
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