Master the ARM AXI4 protocol - the backbone of modern SoC communication. Learn channel architecture, handshaking, burst transactions, and implementation techniques for high-performance silicon design.
Five independent channels: Read Address, Write Address, Write Data, Read Data, and Write Response channels.
VALID/READY handshaking mechanism, transfer acknowledgment, and channel independence principles.
Address channel signals, AWADDR/ARADDR, burst type, size, length, and protection attributes.
Write data channel (WDATA, WSTRB, WLAST) and read data channel (RDATA, RRESP, RLAST) design.
AXI4 ordering model, transaction IDs, out-of-order completion, and dependency rules.
FIXED, INCR, and WRAP burst types, burst length calculations, and address alignment rules.
Multiple outstanding reads/writes, transaction buffering, and throughput optimization techniques.
Data bus sizing, narrow transfers, unaligned accesses, and byte lane strobing mechanisms.
OKAY, EXOKAY, SLVERR, DECERR responses, error propagation, and exception handling.
AXI4 master implementation, request generation, response handling, and flow control.
AXI4 slave implementation, address decoding, data storage, and response generation.
AXI4 specification compliance, ARM protocol checker integration, and validation requirements.
Exclusive access support, atomic operations, cache coherency hints, and QoS signaling.
Asynchronous AXI4 interfaces, CDC FIFOs, synchronizer design, and multi-clock systems.
Setup/hold requirements, critical path optimization, pipeline stages, and timing closure.
AXI4 crossbar switches, bus matrices, address routing, and multi-master arbitration.
AXI4 to DDR controller mapping, memory timing, refresh handling, and bandwidth optimization.
AXI4 cache controller interfaces, coherency protocols, and cache line management.
AXI4 to AHB/APB bridges, protocol conversion, and legacy interface support.
AXI4 protocol analyzers, transaction tracing, performance counters, and debug features.
UVM AXI4 verification IP, constrained random testing, and functional coverage models.
Clock gating strategies, dynamic power management, and low-power AXI4 implementations.
TrustZone integration, secure transactions, privilege attributes, and access control.
User-defined signals, region identifiers, memory attributes, and vendor-specific extensions.