Synchronization and Arbitration in Digital Systems

12

Simple Two-way Arbiters

One of the goals of this chapter is to show that the MUTEX and Sync elements, studied in the previous chapters, can be used to build an arbiter of any complexity. For example, MUTEX and Sync are required in two different typical situations which are described in Sections 12.2 and 12.3. Section 12.1 first introduces the basic concepts and conventions used throughout the chapter: requests, grants, channels and protocols.

12.1 BASIC CONCEPTS AND CONVENTIONS

As described in Chapter 11, an arbiter is reactive to input requests coming from clients and produces output grants returned back to the clients. Because requests and grants are typically functionally tied into pairs, we use the concept of channel. A channel, which couples a request with a grant, constitutes a means of communication between the arbiter and a client in a bidirectional way (Figure 12.1). Similarly, communications between the arbiter and resources are organized using channels.

The communication behaviour of a channel can be defined using a protocol, called the handshaking protocol, which defines signalling and causality rules. Many different protocols exist. Only two of them are considered in this chapter because they are common and represent two general classes of protocols: those based on transition signalling, and those based on level signalling.

Figure 12.1 Coupling requests and grants ...