A high efficiency serial interface protocol – ESIstream

Power Matters.TM
ESIstream© Protocol Presentation
More
Useful
data
Less
overhead
Open
protocol
Simpler Hardware
implementation
© 2015 Microsemi Corporation. Company Proprietary.
1
e2v’s data converters are microwave capable,
they are used in Space primarily for :
•
•
•
•
•
•
Telecommunication Payloads
SAR Radar remote sensing payloads
LiDAR.
Altimeters using GNSS Reflectrometry.
TWTA signal processing feedback loops.
GNSS Software defined navigation signals.
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2
Agenda
Main benefits and introduction
I / Encoding
II / Scrambling
III / Disparity
IV / Synchronization
V / Multiple lanes configuration
Conclusion
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Main benefits
More
Useful
data
Open
protocol
Less
overhead
Simpler Hardware
implementation
High efficiency data rate:
87.5% of useful data
Simple hardware implementation:
Sub-10 pages specifications
Guaranteed DC balance transmission:
±16 running disparity
Sufficient number of transitions:
Max run length of 32bits
Synchronisation monitoring:
Using Clk bit
Deterministic latency & Multiple lanes
configuration
Yes.
© 2015 Microsemi Corporation. Company Proprietary.
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Introduction 1/3
DATA
Using a parallel interface
TX
RX
CLOCK
Pros
Cons
Many traces
Minimum
Latency
Requires
trace lengths
control
No additional
data
processing
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Introduction 2/3
DATA
DESERIALIZER
TX
SERIALIZER
Using a serial interface
RX
Pros
Cons
ESIstream
simplifies serial
data processing.
Processing
required to
implement the
transmission
protocol.
Increased latency
due to protocol
implementation
ESIstream
improves latency
with reduced data
overheads.
© 2015 Microsemi Corporation. Company Proprietary.
Less PCB
traces
Clock is
recovered
from data
stream
Relaxed PCB
trace lengths
requirements
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6
Introduction 3/3
Why ESIstream?
The ESIstream protocol is born from a severe need of the following combination:
•
Reduced overhead on serial links, as low as possible.
•
Increased rate of useful data when linking ADCs & DACs operating at GSPS speeds with
FPGAs on a serial interface.
•
Simplified hardware implementation; simple enough to be built on RF SiGe technologies.
An early form of ESIstream has been implemented in EV5AS210, a 5bit 20GSPS demonstrator ADC from
e2v.
The protocol has now matured and is being implemented in other devices.
It works on standard FPGA high-speed transceiver/serdes I/Os.
More
Useful
data
Less
overhead
Open
protocol
Simpler Hardware
implementation
© 2015 Microsemi Corporation. Company Proprietary.
Power Matters.TM
7
Encoding
14bits/16bits
The ESIstream protocol is based on a 14b/16b encoding which gives a data rate efficiency of
87.5%.
A frame contains 14 bits of data and 2 bits of overhead.
The 14 bits of data are scrambled.
The overhead includes a Clk bit which alternates between ‘0’ and ‘1’ and which is used to monitor
the synchronization of the transmision.
The overhead also includes a disparity bit to ensure a DC balanced transmission.
0
13
Scrambled data
Data
© 2015 Microsemi Corporation. Company Proprietary.
14
15
Clk
DB
Overhead
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8
The scrambling process
The scrambling process is needed for 3 reasons:
• It ensures that there are transitions in the transmission (needed for the CDR),
in addition to the Clk bit in the overhead.
• It ensures a statistical overall DC balanced transmission (for AC coupling system).
• It spreads the spectral content.
0
13
Scrambled data
Data
14
15
Clk
DB
Overhead
Not scrambled
Data
XOR
Output buffer
(CML)
PRBS generator (LFSR)
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Disparity
Principle
In some highly unlikely cases, despite the scrambling process, the transmission might not be
DC balanced overall. This will cause a problem to the reception after some time.
To prevent these cases from occuring, a disparity bit is added.
Running disparity (RD) :
The running disparity is the difference between the number of ‘0’ and ‘1’ sent overall.
0
1
1
0
1
0 0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
RD = -5
Disparity bit (DB) :
If the frame increases the running disparity above a certain threshold (+/-16), all the bits of the
frame except the disparity bit are inverted. The disparity bit is put to ‘1’ in that case, so the RX
recognizes that the data were inverted.
This ensures that the protocol has a max run length of 48bits. Taking into account the Clk bit,
the maximum run length of the protocol is 32 bits.
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Disparity
Example of disparity bit
At some time ti during the transmission RD(ti) = -5.
The following 15 bits of data need to be sent.
ti
0
1
0
0
0
0 1
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
Dw = -7
0
This 15 bits word adds a -7 to the running disparity, the updated RD does not exceed -16, thus
the disparity bit is at ‘0’ and the data are not inverted. The frame sent at ti is then:
ti
0
1
0
0
0
0 1
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
DB
Thus RD(ti+1) = RD(ti) + Dw – 1(for DB) = -13
When DB=0
data is not
inverted
The next data to send is:
ti+1
0
0
0
0
0
1 1
1
0
Dw = -5
This 15 bits word adds a -5 to the running disparity, the updated RD exceeds -16, thus the
disparity bit is at ‘1’ and the data are inverted. The frame sent at ti+1 is then:
ti+1 1
1
1
1
1
0 0
0
1
0
1
1
1
1
Thus RD(ti+2) = RD(ti+1) – Dw +1(for DB) = -7
© 2015 Microsemi Corporation. Company Proprietary.
0
1
DB
When DB=1
data is
inverted
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11
Synchronization
TX/RX Frame alignement
The first step of the TX/RX alignment procedure consists in aligning the frames sent by TX with the
16 bits word obtained at the output of the RX deserializer.
To correct frame misalignment, TX sends a known sequence for 32 frames used by RX to align its
16bits word to the TX frames.
0x00FF
0xFF00
…
0x00FF
0xFF00
32 Frames reserved for frame alignment
After system start-up, the RX sends a SYNC pulse to the TX which starts the synchronization
process of the serial interface.
The RX then seeks the comma 0x00FFFF00 or 0xFF0000FF to align its frames with the TX’s.
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Synchronization
TX/RX PRBS alignement
The next step is to align the RX PRBS with TX PRBS.
To achieve that, the TX sends the PRBS value for 32 frames after the alignment sequence:
PRBSn
PRBSn+1
…
PRBSn+30 PRBSn+31
32 Frames for PRBS initialization
The RX initialises its PRBS using the values it receives from the TX.
The frame during this sequence contains the Clk bit and the disparity bit as the PRBS sequence may
impact the running disparity of the transmission:
0
13
PRBS only (0..13)
14
15
Clk
DB
Overhead
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Synchronization
Process overview
The complete synchronization sequence contains 2 parts of 32 frames to realize TX/RX frames
alignement and TX/RX PRBS alignement:
SYNC_IN pulse
0x00FF
0xFF00
…
0x00FF
0xFF00
32 Frames for frame alignment
PRBSn
PRBSn+1
…
PRBSn+30 PRBSn+31
32 Frames for PRBS initialization
After this sequence, TX and RX are synchronized.
Lengths of 32 frames are sufficient to allow the RX to process the synchronisation successfully and to
be ready to process the useful data at the end of a synchronisation sequence without additional buffer
to the data path.
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Deterministic latency
Using the synchronization sequence, deterministic latency systems can be implemented, using buffer
at the reception stage.
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Multiple Lanes configuration
Implementation example.
DATA
TX
DATA
RX
TX
RX
TX
RX
TX
RX
…
DATA
In case of multiple lanes configuration, in order to avoid cross-lane correlation issues the PRBS sequences between
lanes should not be aligned.
To align multiple lanes at RX level, the synchronization sequence can be used.
The first frame of the PRBS synchronization sequence can be used as a stamp to realign all lanes together.
If multiple TX units using single or multiple lanes configuration need to be synchronous, the TX units need to start
sending the synchronization sequence with a known relation between them so that the RX units can realign them.
If multiple RX units are used, then they need to be synchronized in order to synchronize all lanes together.
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Example with Microsemi FPGA
Logic
Encoding
SERDES
EPCS
Serial link – ESIstream protocol
SERDES
EPCS
Logic
Decoding
SYNC
RTG4 - TX
RTG4 - RX
The ESIstream protocol can be used with Microsemi FPGAs to increase the efficiency of a serial interface.
The example above shows the architecture when using a unique serial link. However, the RTG4 allows 24 serial lanes
so the system could use up to 24 lanes with one SYNC signal to transmit efficiently high quantity of data between
devices that support high-speed serial transmission.
© 2015 Microsemi Corporation. Company Proprietary.
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Summary of benefits
More
Useful
data
Open
protocol
Less
overhead
Simpler Hardware
implementation
High efficiency data rate:
87.5% of useful data
Simple hardware implementation:
Sub-10 pages specifications
Guaranteed DC balance transmission:
±16 running disparity
Sufficient number of transitions:
Max run length of 32bits
Synchronisation monitoring:
Using Clk bit
Deterministic latency & Multiple lanes
configuration
Yes.
© 2015 Microsemi Corporation. Company Proprietary.
Power Matters.TM
18
Document download
Download the latest ESIstream documents on:
http://www.esistream.com/download-area/
© 2015 Microsemi Corporation. Company Proprietary.
Power Matters.TM
19
Thank You
Microsemi Corporation (MSCC) offers a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for
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Viejo, Calif., and has approximately 3,600 employees globally. Learn more at www.microsemi.com.
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