Avalon® Interface Specifications

ID 683091
Date 9/26/2022
Public
Document Table of Contents

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