AN 763: Intel® Arria® 10 SoC Device Design Guidelines

Download PDF
ID 683192
Date 5/17/2022
Public
Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. Overview of Design Guidelines for Intel® Arria® 10 SoC FPGAs 2. Guidelines for Interconnecting the Intel® Arria® 10 HPS and FPGA 3. Design Guidelines for HPS Portion of Arria 10 SoC FPGAs 4. Board Design Guidelines for Arria 10 SoC FPGAs 5. Embedded Software Design Guidelines for Arria 10 SoC FPGAs
1. Overview of Design Guidelines for Intel® Arria® 10 SoC FPGAs x
1.1. SoC FPGA Designer's Checklist 1.2. Overview of HPS Design Guidelines for SoC FPGA design 1.3. Overview of Board Design Guidelines for SoC FPGA Design 1.4. Overview of Embedded Software Design Guidelines for SoC FPGA Design 1.5. Overview of Design Guidelines for Intel® Arria® 10 SoC FPGAs Revision History
2. Guidelines for Interconnecting the Intel® Arria® 10 HPS and FPGA x
2.1. Overview of HPS Memory-Mapped Interfaces 2.2. Recommended System Topologies 2.3. Guidelines for Interconnecting the Intel® Arria® 10 HPS and FPGA Revision History
2.1. Overview of HPS Memory-Mapped Interfaces x
2.1.1. HPS-to-FPGA Bridge 2.1.2. Lightweight HPS-to-FPGA Bridge 2.1.3. FPGA-to-HPS Bridge 2.1.4. FPGA-to-SDRAM Ports 2.1.5. Interface Bandwidths Relative Latencies and Throughputs for Each HPS Interface GUIDELINE: Avoid using the HPS-to-FPGA bridge to access peripheral registers in the FPGA from the MPU. GUIDELINE: Avoid using the lightweight HPS-to-FPGA bridge to access memory in the FPGA from the MPU. GUIDELINE: Avoid using the FPGA-to-HPS bridge to access non-cache coherent SDRAM from soft logic in the FPGA. GUIDELINE: Use soft logic in the FPGA (e.g. a DMA controller) to move shared data between the HPS and FPGA. Avoid using the MPU and the HPS DMA controller for this use case. GUIDELINE: Use the HPS-to-FPGA Bridges Design Example as a starting point for designs that need to move data through the FPGA-to-HPS bridge or FPGA-to-SDRAM port.
2.2. Recommended System Topologies x
2.2.1. HPS Accesses to FPGA Fabric 2.2.2. Maintaining Cache Coherency 2.2.3. MPU Sharing Data with FPGA 2.2.4. Examples of Cacheable and Non-Cacheable Data Accesses From the FPGA
2.2.4. Examples of Cacheable and Non-Cacheable Data Accesses From the FPGA x
2.2.4.1. Example 1: FPGA Reading Data from HPS SDRAM Directly 2.2.4.2. Example 2: FPGA Writing Data into HPS SDRAM Directly 2.2.4.3. Example 3: FPGA Reading Cache Coherent Data from HPS 2.2.4.4. Example 4: FPGA Writing Cache Coherent Data to HPS
3. Design Guidelines for HPS Portion of Arria 10 SoC FPGAs x
3.1. Start your SoC FPGA design here 3.2. Design Considerations for Connecting Device I/O to HPS Peripherals and Memory 3.3. HPS Clocking and Reset Design Considerations 3.4. HPS EMIF Design Considerations 3.5. DMA Considerations 3.6. Design Guidelines for HPS Portion of Intel® Arria® 10 SoC FPGAs Revision History
3.1. Start your SoC FPGA design here x
3.1.1. Recommended Starting Point for HPS-to-FPGA Interface Designs 3.1.2. Determining your SoC FPGA Topology
3.2. Design Considerations for Connecting Device I/O to HPS Peripherals and Memory x
3.2.1. HPS Pin Multiplexing Design Considerations 3.2.2. HPS I/O Settings: Constraints and Drive Strengths
3.3. HPS Clocking and Reset Design Considerations x
3.3.1. HPS Clock Planning 3.3.2. Early Pin Planning and I/O Assignment Analysis 3.3.3. Pin Features and Connections for HPS Clocks, Reset and PoR 3.3.4. Internal Clocks 3.3.5. HPS Reset During FPGA Reconfiguration and FPGA Configuration Failures 3.3.6. HPS Peripheral Reset Management
3.4. HPS EMIF Design Considerations x
3.4.1. Considerations for Connecting HPS to SDRAM 3.4.2. HPS SDRAM I/O Locations 3.4.3. Integrating the Arria 10 HPS EMIF with the SoC FPGA Device 3.4.4. HPS Memory Debug
3.4.2. HPS SDRAM I/O Locations x
3.4.2.1. I/O Bank 2K, Lanes 0,1,2 (Addr/Cmd) 3.4.2.2. I/O Bank 2K, Lane 3 (ECC) 3.4.2.3. I/O Bank, 2J (Data) 3.4.2.4. I/O Bank, 2I (Data, 64-, 72-bit interfaces)
3.5. DMA Considerations x
3.5.1. Choosing a DMA Controller 3.5.2. Optimizing DMA Master Bandwidth through HPS Interconnect
4. Board Design Guidelines for Arria 10 SoC FPGAs x
4.1. Power On Board Bring Up and Boot ROM/Boot Loader Debugging 4.2. FPGA Reconfiguration 4.3. HPS Power Design Considerations 4.4. Boundary Scan for HPS 4.5. Design Guidelines for HPS Interfaces 4.6. Connection Guidelines for Unused HPS Block 4.7. Board Design Guidelines for Intel® Arria® 10 SoC FPGAs Revision History
4.2. FPGA Reconfiguration x
4.2.1. Flash Update with HPS Reboot 4.2.2. Partial Reconfiguration of the SoC FPGA
4.3. HPS Power Design Considerations x
4.3.1. Early System and Board Planning 4.3.2. Design Considerations for HPS and FPGA Power Supplies for SoC FPGA devices 4.3.3. Pin Connection Considerations for Board Designs 4.3.4. Power Analysis 4.3.5. Power Optimization
4.3.1. Early System and Board Planning x
4.3.1.1. Early Power Estimation
4.3.1.1. Early Power Estimation x
4.3.1.1.1. Main Worksheet 4.3.1.1.2. IO Worksheet 4.3.1.1.3. IO-IP Worksheet 4.3.1.1.4. HPS Worksheet
4.3.2. Design Considerations for HPS and FPGA Power Supplies for SoC FPGA devices x
4.3.2.1. Consider Device Power Consumption and HPS Performance 4.3.2.2. Consider Desired HPS Boot Clock Frequency
4.3.3. Pin Connection Considerations for Board Designs x
4.3.3.1. Device Power-Up 4.3.3.2. Power Pin Connections and Power Supplies
4.3.5. Power Optimization x
4.3.5.1. Processor and Memory Clock Speeds 4.3.5.2. MPU Standby Modes and Dynamic Clock Gating 4.3.5.3. Managing Peripheral Power 4.3.5.4. Managing Power by Shutting Down Supplies
4.5. Design Guidelines for HPS Interfaces x
4.5.1. HPS EMAC PHY Interfaces 4.5.2. USB Interface Design Guidelines 4.5.3. QSPI Flash Interface Design Guidelines 4.5.4. SD/MMC and eMMC Card Interface Design Guidelines 4.5.5. Provide Flash Memory Reset for QSPI and SD/MMC/eMMC 4.5.6. NAND Flash Interface Design Guidelines 4.5.7. UART Interface Design Guidelines 4.5.8. I2C Interface Design Guidelines
4.5.1. HPS EMAC PHY Interfaces x
4.5.1.1. PHY Interfaces Connected Through Shared I/O 4.5.1.2. PHY Interfaces Connected Through FPGA I/O 4.5.1.3. MDIO 4.5.1.4. Common PHY Interface Design Considerations
4.5.1.1. PHY Interfaces Connected Through Shared I/O x
4.5.1.1.1. RMII 4.5.1.1.2. RGMII
4.5.1.2. PHY Interfaces Connected Through FPGA I/O x
4.5.1.2.1. GMII/MII 4.5.1.2.2. Adapting to RMII 4.5.1.2.3. Adapting to SGMII
4.5.1.4. Common PHY Interface Design Considerations x
4.5.1.4.1. Signal Integrity
5. Embedded Software Design Guidelines for Arria 10 SoC FPGAs x
5.1. Embedded Software for HPS Design Guidelines 5.2. Support and Documentation 5.3. Embedded Software Design Guidelines for Intel® Arria® 10 SoC FPGAs Revision History
5.1. Embedded Software for HPS Design Guidelines x
5.1.1. Purpose 5.1.2. Assembling the components of your Software Development Platform 5.1.3. Selecting an Operating System for your application 5.1.4. Assembling your Software Development Platform for Linux 5.1.5. Assembling your Software Development Platform for a Bare-Metal Application 5.1.6. Assembling your Software Development Platform for Partner OS or RTOS 5.1.7. Choosing Boot Loader Software 5.1.8. Selecting Software Tools for Development, Debug and Trace 5.1.9. Board Bring Up Considerations 5.1.10. Boot and Configuration Design Considerations 5.1.11. Flash Device Driver Design Considerations 5.1.12. HPS ECC Design Considerations 5.1.13. Security Design Considerations 5.1.14. Embedded Software Debugging and Trace
5.1.2. Assembling the components of your Software Development Platform x
5.1.2.1. Golden Hardware Reference Design (GHRD)
5.1.3. Selecting an Operating System for your application x
5.1.3.1. Using Linux or RTOS 5.1.3.2. Developing a Bare-Metal Application 5.1.3.3. Using the Bootloader as a Bare-Metal Framework 5.1.3.4. Using Symmetrical vs. Asymmetrical Multiprocessing (SMP vs. AMP) Modes
5.1.4. Assembling your Software Development Platform for Linux x
5.1.4.1. Golden System Reference Design (GSRD) for Linux 5.1.4.2. GSRD for Linux Build Flow 5.1.4.3. Source Code Management Considerations 5.1.4.4. Linux Device Tree Design Considerations
5.1.8. Selecting Software Tools for Development, Debug and Trace x
5.1.8.1. Selecting Software Build Tools 5.1.8.2. Selecting Software Debug Tools 5.1.8.3. Selecting Software Trace Tools
5.1.9. Board Bring Up Considerations x
5.1.9.1. Plan the SDRAM Initialization
5.1.10. Boot and Configuration Design Considerations x
5.1.10.1. Boot Design Considerations 5.1.10.2. Configuration
5.1.10.1. Boot Design Considerations x
5.1.10.1.1. Boot Source 5.1.10.1.2. Select Desired Flash Device 5.1.10.1.3. BSEL Options 5.1.10.1.4. Boot Clock 5.1.10.1.5. Determine Boot Fuses Usage 5.1.10.1.6. CSEL Options 5.1.10.1.7. Determine Flash Programming Method 5.1.10.1.8. Selecting NAND Flash Devices 5.1.10.1.9. Selecting QSPI Flash Devices 5.1.10.1.10. Reference Materials
5.1.10.2. Configuration x
5.1.10.2.1. Traditional Configuration 5.1.10.2.2. HPS-Initiated Configuration
5.1.12. HPS ECC Design Considerations x
5.1.12.1. General ECC Design Considerations 5.1.12.2. ECC for External SDRAM Interface 5.1.12.3. ECC for L2 Cache Data Memory 5.1.12.4. ECC for Flash Memory
5.2. Support and Documentation x
5.2.1. Support 5.2.2. Hardware Documentation 5.2.3. Software Documentation
5.2.3. Software Documentation x
5.2.3.1. Example of Prebuilt Bootloaders for the Intel® Arria® 10 SoC Development Kit
1. Overview of Design Guidelines for Intel® Arria® 10 SoC FPGAs
2. Guidelines for Interconnecting the Intel® Arria® 10 HPS and FPGA
3. Design Guidelines for HPS Portion of Arria 10 SoC FPGAs
4. Board Design Guidelines for Arria 10 SoC FPGAs
5. Embedded Software Design Guidelines for Arria 10 SoC FPGAs

2.1.5. Interface Bandwidths

To identify the interface to use to move data between the HPS and FPGA fabric, you must understand the bandwidth of each interface. The following figure illustrates the peak throughput available between the HPS and FPGA fabric as well as the internal bandwidths within the HPS. This example assumes that the FPGA fabric operates at 250 MHz, the MPU operates at 1200 MHz, and the 64-bit external SDRAM operates at 1067 MHz.

For the FPGA-to-SDRAM interface, port configuration 3 is used (FPGA-to-SDRAM0 and FPGA-to-SDRAM2 are both 128 bits wide).

For abbreviations, refer to the figure in Overview of HPS Memory-Mapped Interfaces.

Figure 2. Arria 10 HPS Memory Mapped Bandwidth

Relative Latencies and Throughputs for Each HPS Interface

This table shows usages, relative latencies, and throughputs for each interface.

Interface

Transaction Use Case

Latency

Throughput

Recommended Usage Model

HPS-to-FPGA

MPU accessing memory in FPGA

Medium

Medium

Yes

HPS-to-FPGA

MPU accessing peripheral in FPGA

Medium

Very Low

No—see GUIDELINE: Avoid using the HPS-to-FPGA bridge to access peripheral registers in the FPGA from the MPU.

Lightweight HPS-to-FPGA

MPU accessing register in FPGA

Low

Low

Yes

Lightweight HPS-to-FPGA

MPU accessing memory in FPGA

Low

Very Low

No—see GUIDELINE: Avoid using the lightweight HPS-to-FPGA bridge to access memory in the FPGA from the MPU.

FPGA-to-HPS

FPGA master accessing non-cache coherent SDRAM

High

Medium

No—see GUIDELINE: Avoid using the FPGA-to-HPS bridge to access non-cache coherent SDRAM from soft logic in the FPGA.

FPGA-to-HPS

FPGA master accessing HPS on-chip RAM

Low

High

Yes

FPGA-to-HPS

FPGA master accessing HPS peripheral

Low

Low

Yes

FPGA-to-HPS

FPGA master accessing coherent memory resulting in cache miss

High

Medium

Yes

FPGA-to-HPS

FPGA master accessing coherent memory resulting in cache hit

Low

Medium-High

Yes

FPGA-to-SDRAM

FPGA master accessing SDRAM through single FPGA-to-SDRAM port

Medium

High

Yes

FPGA-to-SDRAM

FPGA masters accessing SDRAM through multiple FPGA-to-SDRAM ports

Medium

Very High

Yes

GUIDELINE: Avoid using the HPS-to-FPGA bridge to access peripheral registers in the FPGA from the MPU.

The HPS-to-FPGA bridge is optimized for bursting traffic and peripheral accesses are typically short word sized accesses of only one beat. As a result, if peripherals are accessed through the HPS-to-FPGA bridge the transaction can be stalled by other bursting traffic that is already in flight.

GUIDELINE: Avoid using the lightweight HPS-to-FPGA bridge to access memory in the FPGA from the MPU.

The lightweight HPS-to-FPGA bridge is optimized for non-bursting traffic and typically memory accesses are performed as bursts (often 32 bytes due to cache operations). As a result, if memory is accessed through the lightweight HPS-to-FPGA bridge, the throughput is limited.

GUIDELINE: Avoid using the FPGA-to-HPS bridge to access non-cache coherent SDRAM from soft logic in the FPGA.

The FPGA-to-HPS bridge is optimized for accessing non-SDRAM accesses (peripherals, on-chip RAM, ACP). As a result, accessing SDRAM directly by performing non-coherent accesses increases the latency and limits the throughput compared to accesses from FPGA-to-SDRAM ports.

GUIDELINE: Use soft logic in the FPGA (e.g. a DMA controller) to move shared data between the HPS and FPGA. Avoid using the MPU and the HPS DMA controller for this use case.

When moving shared data between the HPS and FPGA Intel® recommends to do so from the FPGA instead of moving the data using the MPU or HPS DMA controller. If the FPGA must access cache coherent data then it must access the FPGA-to-HPS bridge with the appropriate signaling to issue a cacheable transaction. If non-cache coherent data must be moved to the FPGA or HPS, a DMA engine implemented in FPGA logic can move the data, achieving the highest throughput possible. Even though the HPS includes a DMA engine internally that could move data between the HPS and FPGA, its purpose is to assist peripherals that do not master memory or provide memory to memory data movements on behalf of the MPU.

GUIDELINE: Use the HPS-to-FPGA Bridges Design Example as a starting point for designs that need to move data through the FPGA-to-HPS bridge or FPGA-to-SDRAM port.

If you own the Arria 10 SoC Development Kit, Intel offers a design example that moves data through the FPGA-to-HPS bridge and FPGA-to-SDRAM ports. The design measures the throughput of each interface under different burst sizes so that you can see how the memory bandwidth varies under different conditions.

Related Information
Level Two Title