Monitor Interface - 3.1 English

While using the Monitor Interface is optional, AMD strongly recommends having a method in place to connect the Monitor Interface. The Monitor Interface provides information that is crucial in debugging potential problems or answering questions that might arise. The UART helper block provided in the example design is a UART that can be connected to a standard RS232 port, or to USB through a USB-to-UART bridge.

If this connection is not available in the system, at the minimum, AMD strongly recommends you to buffer the output of Monitor Interface into a FIFO and the data can be post-processed for debugging purposes.

If neither of these options are possible, the Monitor Interface needs to be correctly tied-off for the IP to complete initialization correctly. See Monitor Interface for guidance. If this is not done correctly, the IP hangs in the initialization state.

To confirm the SEM controller is operational, observe the initialization report issued by the SEM controller over the Monitor Interface. It generally has the following form:

SEM_ULTRA_V3_1
SC 01
FS 03
AF 01
ICAP OK
RDBK OK
INIT OK
SC 02
O>

The first line lists the core version. The third line indicates the SEM controller feature set, which is a summary of the SEM controller core options selected when the core was generated.

If the UART helper block is used, and the initialization report appears scrambled or garbage characters appear, verify that the terminal program communication settings match those listed in Switching Behavior and UART Interface.

Also, verify that the frequency of the actual clock provided to the SEM controller coupled with the UART helper block V_ENABLETIME parameter value, yields a standard baud rate and that the terminal program communication settings match the bit rate. This is described in Figure 2 and Figure 3.

If the SEM controller cannot achieve communication with the FPGA configuration logic through the ICAP primitive, the initialization report does not get past the ICAP line, and OK is not present because the controller cannot communicate with the FPGA configuration logic. In such a scenario, the initialization report looks like the following:

SEM_ULTRA_V3_1
SC 01
FS 03
AF 01
ICAP

If this happens, it is necessary to determine why the ICAP is not responding. Some possible items to check:

• Ensure the instantiation of the ICAP is correct for the device being used.
• Ensure that no other process is blocking the ICAP.

  Verify no JTAG access is occurring and that SelectMAP persist is not set.

• The connection between the SEM controller and the ICAP must be direct, unless the ICAP sharing is implemented. Never add pipelining between the SEM controller and the ICAP.

As documented in Unsupported Features the SEM controller is not compatible with POST_CRC, POST_CONFIG_CRC, or any other related constraints. If the initialization report does not get past the ICAP, RDBK, or INIT lines, verify that none of these have been used.