Asymmetric AXI Stream FIFO

The Asymmetric AXI Stream FIFO core is a simple FIFO (First Input First Output) with AXI streaming interfaces, supporting synchronous and asynchronous operation modes with an asymmetric data width on its salve and master interface. It can be used to mitigate data width differences or transfer an AXI stream to a different clock domain.

Features

  • Supports Intel/Altera and AMD Xilinx devices

  • Configurable data width and depth

  • Asymmetric data width

  • Supports asynchronous (double clocked) mode

  • Supports TLAST to indicate packet boundary

  • Supports TKEEP to indicate valid data bytes

  • Supports FULL/EMPTY and ALMOST_FULL/ALMOST_EMPTY status signals

Files

Name

Description

library/util_axis_fifo_asym/util_axis_fifo_asym.v

Verilog source for the peripheral.

Configuration Parameters

Name

Description

Default Value

Choices/Range
ASYNC_CLK

Clocking mode. If set, the FIFO operates on asynchronous mode.

 1

S_DATA_WIDTH

Data width of the Slave AXI streaming interface.

 64

S_ADDRESS_WIDTH

Width of the Slave AXI’s address, defines the depth of the FIFO.

 5

M_DATA_WIDTH

Data width of the Master AXI streaming interface.

 128

M_AXIS_REGISTERED

Add and additional register stage to the AXI stream master interface.

 1

ALMOST_EMPTY_THRESHOLD

Defines the offset (in data beats) between the almost empty and empty assertion.

 4

ALMOST_FULL_THRESHOLD

Defines the offset (in data beats) between the almost full and full assertion.

 4

TLAST_EN

Enable TLAST logical port on the AXI streaming interface.

 0

TKEEP_EN

Enable TKEEP logical port on the AXI streaming interface.

 0

Interface

Physical Port

Logical Port

Direction

Dependency
s_axis_valid TVALID

in

s_axis_ready TREADY

out

s_axis_data TDATA

in [63:0]

s_axis_tlast TLAST

in

Physical Port

Logical Port

Direction

Dependency
m_axis_valid TVALID

out

m_axis_ready TREADY

in

m_axis_data TDATA

out [127:0]

m_axis_tlast TLAST

out

Physical Port

Direction

Dependency

Description
m_axis_aclk

in

Master AXI stream clock signal Bus m_axis is synchronous to this clock domain.
m_axis_aresetn

in

Master AXI stream reset signal (active low) Bus m_axis is synchronous to this reset signal.
m_axis_tkeep

out [15:0]

m_axis_empty

out

If set the FIFO is empty
m_axis_almost_empty

out

If set the FIFO is almost empty
m_axis_level

out [31:0]

Indicates how much data is in the FIFO
s_axis_aclk

in

Slave AXI stream clock signal Bus s_axis is synchronous to this clock domain.
s_axis_aresetn

in

Slave AXI stream reset signal (active low) Bus s_axis is synchronous to this reset signal.
s_axis_tkeep

in [7:0]

s_axis_full

out

If set the FIFO is full
s_axis_almost_full

out

If set the FIFO is almost full
s_axis_room

out [4:0]

Indicates how much space (in data beats) is in the FIFO

Detailed Description

The FIFO is based on the util_axis_fifo, using it as its atomic building block.

The configuration of the atomic util_axis_fifo blocks are calculated as follows:

// define which interface has a wider bus
localparam RATIO_TYPE = (S_DATA_WIDTH >= M_DATA_WIDTH) ? 1 : 0;
// bus width ratio
localparam RATIO = (RATIO_TYPE) ? S_DATA_WIDTH/M_DATA_WIDTH : M_DATA_WIDTH/S_DATA_WIDTH;
// atomic parameters - NOTE: depth is defined by master or slave and limitation attributes
localparam A_WIDTH = (RATIO_TYPE) ? M_DATA_WIDTH : S_DATA_WIDTH;
localparam A_ADDRESS = (ADDRESS_WIDTH_PERSPECTIVE) ?
    ((FIFO_LIMITED) ? ((RATIO_TYPE) ? (ADDRESS_WIDTH-$clog2(RATIO)) : ADDRESS_WIDTH) : ADDRESS_WIDTH) :
    ((FIFO_LIMITED) ? ((RATIO_TYPE) ? ADDRESS_WIDTH : (ADDRESS_WIDTH-$clog2(RATIO))) : ADDRESS_WIDTH);
localparam A_ALMOST_FULL_THRESHOLD = (RATIO_TYPE) ? ALMOST_FULL_THRESHOLD : (ALMOST_FULL_THRESHOLD/RATIO);
localparam A_ALMOST_EMPTY_THRESHOLD = (RATIO_TYPE) ? (ALMOST_EMPTY_THRESHOLD/RATIO) : ALMOST_EMPTY_THRESHOLD;

Status Signal Delays

Important

In case of asynchronous mode, because of the delays introduced by the clock domain crossing logic, the ROOM and LEVEL indicators can not reflect the actual state of the FIFO in real time. Source and destination logic should take this into account when controlling the data stream into and from the FIFO. Carefully adjusting the ALMOST_EMPTY/ALMOST_FULL indicators can provide a save operating margin.

The FIFO has three different status indicator ports on both side, which provides information about the state of the FIFO for both the source and destination logic:

  • FULL or EMPTY - If these outputs are asserted the FIFO is full or empty. In case of a full FIFO all the write operations are suspended. In case of an empty FIFO all the read operations are suspended.

  • ALMOST_EMPTY/ALMOST_FULL - It can be used to foresee a potential FULL or EMPTY state, asserting before the EMPTY/FULL before a predefined number of word. The offset between ALMOST_EMPTY and EMPTY, and between ALMOST_FULL and FULL can be set by using the parameters ALMOST_EMPTY_THRESHOLD and ALMOST_FULL_THRESHOLD. The offset values are automatically adjusted according to M_DATA_WIDTH and S_DATA_WIDTH ratio.

  • S_AXIS_ROOM - Indicate how many word can be written in the FIFO at the current moment, until the FIFO become FULL.

  • M_AXIS_LEVEL - Indicate how many word can be read from the FIFO at the current moment, until the FIFO become EMPTY.

FIFO Depth Calculation

The FIFO Depth is calculated based on parameters M_DATA_WIDTH, S_DATA_WIDTH, ADDRESS_WIDTH, FIFO_LIMITED and ADDRESS_WIDTH_PERSPECTIVE:

  • ADDRESS_WIDTH_PERSPECTIVE is 1 and FIFO_LIMITED is 1 - This means that the address specified is from the perspective of the Master interface. Since the limit is enabled the FIFO size will be reduced if the S_DATA_WIDTH is > M_DATA_WIDTH, leading to a smaller FIFO implementation.

  • ADDRESS_WIDTH_PERSPECTIVE is 1 and FIFO_LIMITED is 0 - This means that the address specified is from the perspective of the Master interface. Since the limit is disable the FIFO size will remain the same if the S_DATA_WIDTH is > M_DATA_WIDTH, leading to a bigger FIFO implementation.

  • ADDRESS_WIDTH_PERSPECTIVE is 0 and FIFO_LIMITED is 1 - This means that the address specified is from the perspective of the Slave interface. Since the limit is enabled the FIFO size will be reduced if the S_DATA_WIDTH is < M_DATA_WIDTH, leading to a smaller FIFO implementation.

  • ADDRESS_WIDTH_PERSPECTIVE is 0 and FIFO_LIMITED is 0 - This means that the address specified is from the perspective of the Slave interface. Since the limit is disable the FIFO size will remain the same if the S_DATA_WIDTH is < M_DATA_WIDTH, leading to a bigger FIFO implementation.

Software Support

References