Network on Chip - 2022.2 English

Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Dynamic Function eXchange (UG909)

Document ID
UG909
Release Date
2022-11-21
Version
2022.2 English

The Network on Chip (NoC) is an important new silicon feature within Versal devices, enabling fast communication throughout each device. NoC elements can be assigned to the static or dynamic parts of the design, just like other fundamental resources such as CLB or BRAM. This section contains a summary of different ways to use the NoC in a DFX design, and the rules and considerations that go along with them.

As a reminder, the NoC is composed of NMUs, NSUs, NPSs, and NIDBs. The NoC master unit (NMU) is the traffic ingress point; the NoC slave unit (NSU) is the traffic egress point. Both hard and soft IPs have some number of these master and slave connections. The NoC Inter-Die-Bridge (NIDB) connects two super logic regions (SLRs) together, providing high bandwidth between dies. The NoC Packet Switch (NPS) is the crossbar switch, used to fully form the network. The Inter-NoC Interface (INI) provides a means of connecting two NoC instances (either axi_noc or axis_noc). An INI link represents a logical connection within the physical NoC that is resolved at the time the NoC compiler is called.

For detailed information on the NoC in Versal devices, refer Versal ACAP Programmable Network on Chip and Integrated Memory Controller LogiCORE IP Product Guide (PG313).

Table 1. Supported NoC Connectivity in DFX Design
NoC Endpoints Connectivity
NoC is completely in static
  • RP communicating to NoC in static
  • RP not communicating to NoC in static
NoC is completely inside RP
  • Static communicating to NoC in RP
  • Static not communicating to NoC in RP
Some NoC endpoints are in static, some NoC endpoints are in RP
  • RM use purely for internal communication
  • With NoC interface path between static and RP
RP to RP NoC communication Direct NoC to NoC paths between multiple RPs are not allowed in DFX. To keep ownership of such paths in static region, it is required to keep an endpoint in static region (RP1 > static > RP2)