Avalon Streaming Interface (Avalon-ST) Definition

The Avalon® Streaming (Avalon® -ST) interface accommodates the development of high-bandwidth, low-latency components for Platform Designer systems, and provides component designers with a framework to create interfaces that support the unidirectional flow of data, including multiplexed streams, packets, and DSP data.

The Avalon®-ST interface defines a standard, flexible and modular protocol for data transfers from a source interface to a sink interface. The Avalon®-ST interface signals describe traditional streaming interfaces supporting a single stream of data without knowledge of channels or packet boundaries. The interface can also support more complex protocols capable of burst and packet transfers with packets interleaved across multiple channels.

Some of the prominent features of the Avalon®-ST interface are:

  • Low latency, high throughput data transfer
  • Multiple channel support with flexible packet interleaving
  • Sideband signaling of channel, error, and start and end of packet delineation
  • Support for data bursting
  • Automatic interface adaptation
Note: More information is available for Avalon® on the Altera website.