Nios® V Processor: Lockstep Implementation

ID 833274
Date 10/07/2024
Public
Document Table of Contents

3.3.1.1. Timeout

You can use the programmable Timeout feature to detect the following three failure modes, which cover each of the fRSmartComp states and generate a specific alarm:

  • Missing Configuration interface access to the acknowledgment register after asynchronous reset or after moving to OD (indicates Supervisor is slower than expected or stuck)
  • The fRSmartComp has been in the FCS state for too long (Restoration timeout).
  • The fRSmartComp has been in the DISABLED state for too long (Software Worst Case execution time failure).

You can configure and control the Timeout feature as below:

  • Configure the Timeout feature after the asynchronous reset ( Nios® V processor reset) or DISABLE command (synchronous reset), with the deadline set with the Default Timeout Period IP Parameter. It has a fixed pre-scaling ratio equal to 4096.
  • Control the Timeout feature using two registers: ERRCTRL_TIMEOUT and ERRCTRL_TIMEOUT_ACK. These registers are accessible from the Configuration Interface only.
    • ERRCTRL_TIMEOUT register is used to configure a new timeout deadline or switch the timeout off (deadline=0). A deadline=1 can be freely used because there is no jitter between the prescaler and the counter; the prescaler is started/restarted contextually with the counter itself.
    • ERRCTRL_TIMEOUT_ACK is used to give the timeout acknowledgment. For more example, refer to the topic Timeout Timer.
In detail, the timeout operation is as follows:
  1. Reset the counter to zero and start counting when any of the following start events occur:
    • Asynchronous reset
    • fRSmartComp state change
    • Timeout deadline change.
  2. Stop counting (until a new start event occurs) when any of the following events occur:
    • Timeout acknowledgment is received from the Configuration Interface
    • Timeout deadline is zero
    • Timeout alarm is generated
  3. Suspend counting when SILENT mode is active