RA0	Cortex-A5 implementation

This course covers the ARM Cortex-A5 CPU

OBJECTIVES This course is split into 3 important parts: Cortex-A5 architecture Cortex-A5 software implementation and debug Cortex-A5 hardware implementation. MMU operation under Linux is described. Interaction between level 1 caches, level 2 cache and main memory is studied through sequences. The exception mechanism is detailed, indicating how virtualization enables the support of several operating systems. The course also details the hardware implementation and provides some guidelines to design a SoC based on Cortex-A5. An overview of the Coresight specification is provided prior to describing the debug related units. The course explains the mechanisms dedicated to SMP implementation, exclusive resource management, snooping, software generated interrupt. Labs are run under RVDS A more detailed course description is available on request at info@ac6-training.com

PREREQUISITES
	Knowledge of ARM7/9 or having attended our course ARM fundamentals.
	This course does not include chapters on low level programming.
		ACSYS offers a large set of tutorials to become familiar with RVDS, assembly level programming, compiler hints and tips.
	More than 12 correct answers to our Cortex-A5 prerequisites questionnaire.

Outline

First day INTRODUCTION TO CORTEX-A5 Cortex-A5 variants: single core vs multicore The 4 instruction sets Configurable options ARM BASICS States and modes Exception mechanism Instruction sets INSTRUCTION PIPELINE In-order pipeline operation Branch prediction mechanism Return stack TRUSTZONE TrustZone conceptual view Secure to non secure permitted transitions Memory partitioning Interrupt management Boot sequence INTRODUCTION TO MULTI-CORE SYSTEMS AMP vs SMP Boot sequence Exclusive access monitor Global monitor Spin-lock implementation Using events Basic concepts of RTOS supporting A5 SMP architecture Second day THUMB-2 INSTRUCTION SET (V7-A) General points on syntax Branch and control flow instructions Memory access instructions Exception generating instructions If…then conditional blocks Stack in operation Interworking ARM and Thumb states Demonstration of assembly sequences aimed to understand this new instruction set MEMORY MANAGEMENT UNIT MMU objectives Address translation Page access permission, domain and page protection Utilization of memory barrier instructions Format of the external page descriptor table Tablewalk TLB organization Utilization of microTLBs Abort exception, on-demand page mechanism MMU maintenance operations Maintaining coherency of multiple TLBs LEVEL 1 MEMORY SYSTEM Cache organization Supported maintenance operations Memory hint instructions Describing transient cache related transactions: line fills and line eviction 64-bit merging store buffer PMU related events HARDWARE COHERENCY Snooping basics Snoop Control Unit: cache-to-cache transfers MOESI state machine Address filtering Understanding through sequences how data coherency is maintained between L2 memory and L1 caches Accelerator Coherency Port Enabling coherency mode

Third day AMBA 3 AXI Topology PL301 AXI interconnect AXI channels, channel handshake Support for unaligned data transfers Transaction ordering, out of order transaction completion Cortex-A5 external memory interface, ID encoding APB 3 HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION Clock domains Reset domains Power control, dynamic power management Wait For Interrupt architecture Level 2 memory interface Exclusive L2 cache PL310 LEVEL 2 CACHE Cache configurability Understanding through sequences how cacheable information is copied from memory to level 1 and level 2 caches Transient operations, utilization of line buffers LFBs, LRBs, EBs and STBs Cache event monitoring Describing each maintenance operation Cache lockdown Initialization sequence PERFORMANCE MONITOR Event counting Debugging a multi-core system with the assistance of the PMU Fourth day INTERRUPT CONTROLLER Cortex-A5 exception management Interrupt virtualization Integrated timer and watchdog unit in MPCore Interrupt groups: SGI, PPI, SPI, LSPI Prioritization of the interrupt sources Distribution of the interrupts to the Cortex-A5 cores Generation of interrupts by software Detailing the interrupt sequence, purpose of Interrupt Acknowledge register and End-Of-Interrupt register LOW POWER MODES Voltage domains Communication to the power management controller Standby and wait for event signals SCU power status register CORESIGHT DEBUG UNITS Benefits of CoreSight Invasive debug, non-invasive debug, taking into account the secure attribute Connection to the Debug Access Port Debug facilities offered by Cortex-A5 Event catching Debug Communication Channel ETM interface Cross-Trigger Interface, debugging a multi-core SoC

 

Duration	Cost	Calendar
4 days	1950 €