Intel® Agilex® 7 M-Series FPGA Network-on-Chip (NoC) User Guide

ID 768844
Date 5/22/2023
Public

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4.4.3. NoC Initiator Connectivity Guidelines

The NoC Initiator Intel FPGA IP uses a separate NoC initiator for each AXI4 subordinate interface that you specify when configuring the IP. If you configure the IP with AXI4 Lite subordinate interfaces, these interfaces all share the bandwidth of the first NoC initiator bridge that the IP uses. If you configure the IP with only AXI4 Lite interfaces, all the AXI4 Lite subordinates dedicatedly share a single physical NoC initiator bridge.

If you configure the NoC Initiator Intel FPGA IP with unequal read and write AXI4 data widths, the IP exposes two AXI4 subordinate interfaces per initiator bridge. One of these interfaces is read-only, having only the AXI4 AR and R channels. The other interface is write-only, having only the AXI4 AW, W, and B channels. Configure these AXI4 subordinate interfaces for compatibility with the AXI4 managers in your design.

If you configure the NoC Initiator Intel FPGA IP for per-interface clock and reset signals, there are separate clock and reset connections for each AXI4 and AXI4 Lite subordinate interface. Otherwise, there is a single clock and reset to provide clocking and reset to all AXI4 interfaces, and another single clock and reset to provide clocking and reset to all AXI4 Lite subordinates. Connect the clock and reset interfaces to clock and reset sources in your design. Each AXI4 or AXI4 Lite subordinate interface must be synchronous to its clock and reset connections.

AXI4 resets are active-low and can be asserted asynchronously. However AXI4 resets must be deasserted on a rising edge of the clock used to drive data and handshake signals of the associated AXI4 interfaces.

If you choose to configure the NoC Initiator Intel FPGA IP with a read data width of 512 or 576 bits, you can also configure the IP with a separate clock for the NoC initiator bridges. In this case, the IP exposes an additional clock input.

  • (Optional) Early RTL Simulation Flow using Platform Designer—to enable early RTL simulation, instantiate your NoC IP in Platform Designer and connect each AXI4 NoC manager port to one or more AXI4 NoC subordinate ports in the System View tab.
  • If you are using Platform Designer to instantiate your NoC IP but do not require early RTL simulation, you can skip connecting the AXI4 NoC manager ports in the Platform Designer System View tab. After running Analysis & Elaboration, you can use the NoC Assignment Editor to define connectivity and prepare your design for RTL simulation.
  • If you are instantiating your NoC IP directly in RTL, the early RTL simulation flow is unavailable and the AXI4 NoC manager ports do not exist. After running Analysis & Elaboration, you must use the NoC Assignment Editor to define connectivity and prepare your design for RTL simulation.

For details on the NoC Initiator Intel FPGA IP, refer to NoC Initiator Intel FPGA IP.