2.6. Communication Alternatives

As discussed earlier, the classic method used to interconnect SOC blocks is to use one or more microprocessor-style buses. This design style is a holdover from decades of microprocessor-based system-design experience. Buses are still useful for conveying inter-block traffic, but they are by no means the SOC designer’s only alternative. A partial list of alternative interconnection schemes includes:

  • Buses

  • Shared memories

  • FIFO queues

  • Simple wires (point-to-point connections)

  • On-chip networks

Buses and bus hierarchies are familiar to all system designers. Figure 2.11 shows a system that uses a bus hierarchy to move data around a system that contains two processors and a hardware accelerator block.

Figure 2.11. System ...

Get Designing SOCs with Configured Cores now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.