Intel® Arria® 10 Hard Processor System Technical Reference Manual

ID 683711
Date 1/10/2023
Public

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20.4.6.3. National Semiconductor Microwire Protocol

For the master SPI, data transmission begins as soon as the output enable signal is deasserted. One‑half serial clock (sclk_out) period later, the first bit of the control is sent out on the txd line. The length of the control word can be in the range 1 to 16 bits and is set by writing bit field CFS (bits 15:12) in CTRLR0. The remainder of the control word is transmitted (propagated on the falling edge of sclk_ou t) by the SPI serial master. During this transmission, no data are present (high impedance) on the serial master's rxd line. †

The direction of the data word is controlled by the MDD bit field (bit 1) in the Microwire Control Register (MWCR). When MDD=0, this indicates that the SPI serial master receives data from the external serial slave. One clock cycle after the LSB of the control word is transmitted, the slave peripheral responds with a dummy 0 bit, followed by the data frame, which can be 4 to 16 bits in length. Data are propagated on the falling edge of the serial clock and captured on the rising edge. †

Continuous transfers from the Microwire protocol can be sequential or nonsequential, and are controlled by the MWMOD bit field (bit 0) in the MWCR.  †

Nonsequential continuous transfers occur, with the control word for the next transfer following immediately after the LSB of the current data word. †

The only modification needed to perform a continuous nonsequential transfer is to write more control words into the transmit FIFO buffer. †

During sequential continuous transfers, only one control word is transmitted from the SPI master. The transfer is started in the same manner as with nonsequential read operations, but the cycle is continued to read further data. The slave device automatically increments its address pointer to the next location and continues to provide data from that location. Any number of locations can be read in this manner; the SPI master terminates the transfer when the number of words received is equal to the value in the CTRLR1 register plus one. †

When MDD = 1, this indicates that the SPI serial master transmits data to the external serial slave. Immediately after the LSB of the control word is transmitted, the SPI master begins transmitting the data frame to the slave peripheral. †

Note: The SPI controller does not support continuous sequential Microwire writes, where MDD = 1 and MWMOD = 1.  †

Continuous transfers occur with the control word for the next transfer following immediately after the LSB of the current data word.

The Microwire handshaking interface can also be enabled for SPI master write operations to external serial‑slave devices. To enable the handshaking interface, you must write 1 into the MHS bit field (bit 2) on the MWCR register. When MHS is set to 1, the SPI serial master checks for a ready status from the slave device before completing the transfer, or transmitting the next control word for continuous transfers. †

After the first data word has been transmitted to the serial‑slave device, the SPI master polls the rxd input waiting for a ready status from the slave device. Upon reception of the ready status, the SPI master begins transmission of the next control word. After transmission of the last data frame has completed, the SPI master transmits a start bit to clear the ready status of the slave device before completing the transfer.  †

In the SPI slave, data transmission begins with the falling edge of the slave select signal (ss_in_0). One‑half serial clock (sclk_in) period later, the first bit of the control is present on the rxd line. The length of the control word can be in the range of 1 to 16 bits and is set by writing bit field CFS in the CTRLR0 register. The CFS bit field must be set to the size of the expected control word from the serial master. The remainder of the control word is received (captured on the rising edge of sclk_in) by the SPI serial slave. During this reception, no data are driven (high impedance) on the serial slave's txd line. †

The direction of the data word is controlled by the MDD bit field (bit 1) MWCR register. When MDD=0, this indicates that the SPI serial slave is to receive data from the external serial master. Immediately after the control word is transmitted, the serial master begins to drive the data frame onto the SPI slave rxd line. Data are propagated on the falling edge of the serial clock and captured on the rising edge. The slave‑select signal is held active‑low during the transfer and is deasserted one‑half clock cycle later after the data are transferred. The SPI slave output enable signal is held inactive for the duration of the transfer.  †

When MDD=1, this indicates that the SPI serial slave transmits data to the external serial master. Immediately after the LSB of the control word is transmitted, the SPI slave transmits a dummy 0 bit, followed by the 4‑ to 16‑bit data frame on the txd line. †

Continuous transfers for a SPI slave occur in the same way as those specified for the SPI master. The SPI slave does not support the handshaking interface, as there is never a busy period. †

Figure 115. Single SPI Serial Master Microwire Serial Transfer (MDD=0)
Figure 116. Single SPI Slave Microwire Serial Transfer (MDD=1)