ARM NIC-301 1.1 About the AMBA Network Interconnect

Introduction
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1.1 About the AMBA Network Interconnect
The AMBA Network Interconnect is a highly configurable component that enables you to create
a complete high performance, optimized AMBA-compliant network infrastructure. The
possible configurations for the AMBA Network Interconnect can range from a single bridge
component, for example an AHB to AXI protocol bridge, to a complex infrastructure that
consists of up to 128 masters and 64 slaves of a combination of different AMBA protocols.
An AMBA Network Interconnect configuration can consist of multiple switches with many
topology options. Figure 1-1 shows a top-level block diagram of the AMBA Network
Interconnect that contains:
• multiple switches
• multiple AMBA Slave Interface Blocks (ASIBs)
• multiple AMBA Master Interface Blocks (AMIBs).
Figure 1-1 AMBA Network Interconnect top-level block diagram
Switch
A
Switch
B
Interface
Block (IB)
AMIB
AMIB
ASIB
ASIB
Distributed Global
Programmers
View (GPV)
Default
slave
AXI AXI
AXI AXI
AMBA
master
interface
AXI
AXI
signals
AMBA Network Interconnect (NIC-301)
Routing omitted
for clarity
AMBA
master
interface
AMBA
slave
interface
AMBA
slave
interface
ASIB
AMBA
slave
interface
AXI
Switch
C
AXI
AXI
signals
AMIB
AMBA
master
interface
AXI
signals