Operation
Arbitration for the backplane is accomplished in the INB Time Division Multiplexing (ITDM) logic. The arbitration is a
The ITDM RAM contains 256
The RAM is programmed on system
ITDM Arbitration Levels
The three levels of arbitration guarantee that a module will get its allocated bandwidth plus some more depending on what levels of arbitration it is participating in.
ITDM RAM Allocation (Level 1)
This level guarantees access to the backplane. When a module requests access to the backplane, it will get access to it when it's slot number is placed onto the bus. This will ensure predicted or predetermined access to the backplane.
Round Robin Arbitration (Level 2)
This level makes use of idle time slices. There is a token passed on every time slice to modules participating in this level of arbitration. Only one module has the token at any one time slice. If the module assigned to the next time slice is not requesting then the module with the token will be granted access if it is requesting. The token is passed to the next highest slot number participating each time slice.
Lowest Slot Number (Level 3)
This level is only used if the other two levels fail in granting access to the backplane. If the owner of the token is not requesting, then the lowest slot number requesting will be granted access. This ensures that a time slice will not be idle if there are modules requesting access.