Timer

Introduction

A timer module is probably one of the most basic pieces of hardware. But even for a timer, there are some interesting things that you can do with SpinalHDL. This example will define a simple timer component which integrates a bus bridging utile.

Timer

So let’s start with the Timer component.

Specification

The Timer component will have a single construction parameter:

Parameter Name	Type	Description
width	Int	Specify the bit width of the timer counter

And also some inputs/outputs:

IO Name	Direction	Type	Description
tick	in	Bool	When `tick` is True, the timer count up until `limit`.
clear	in	Bool	When `tick` is True, the timer is set to zero. `clear` has priority over `tick`.
limit	in	UInt(width bits)	When the timer value is equal to `limit`, the `tick` input is inhibited.
full	out	Bool	`full` is high when the timer value is equal to `limit` and `tick` is high.
value	out	UInt(width bits)	Wire out the timer counter value.

Implementation

case class Timer(width : Int) extends Component {
  val io = new Bundle {
    val tick  = in Bool()
    val clear = in Bool()
    val limit = in UInt(width bits)

    val full  = out Bool()
    val value = out UInt(width bits)
  }

  val counter = Reg(UInt(width bits))
  when(io.tick && !io.full) {
    counter := counter + 1
  }
  when(io.clear) {
    counter := 0
  }

  io.full := counter === io.limit && io.tick
  io.value := counter

}

Bridging function

Now we can start with the main purpose of this example: defining a bus bridging function. To do that we will use two techniques:

Using the BusSlaveFactory tool documented here
Defining a function inside the Timer component which can be called from the parent component to drive the Timer‘s IO in an abstract way.

Specification

This bridging function will take the following parameters:

Parameter Name	Type	Description
busCtrl	BusSlaveFactory	The `BusSlaveFactory` instance that will be used by the function to create the bridging logic.
baseAddress	BigInt	The base address where the bridging logic should be mapped.
ticks	Seq[Bool]	A list of Bool sources that can be used as a tick signal.
clears	Seq[Bool]	A list of Bool sources that can be used as a clear signal.

The register mapping assumes that the bus system is 32 bits wide:

Name	Access	Width	Address offset	Bit offset	Description
ticksEnable	RW	len(ticks)	0	0	Each `ticks` bool can be actived if the corresponding `ticksEnable` bit is high.
clearsEnable	RW	len(clears)	0	16	Each `clears` bool can be actived if the corresponding `clearsEnable` bit is high.
limit	RW	width	4	0	Access the limit value of the timer component. When this register is written to, the timer is cleared.
value	R	width	8	0	Access the value of the timer.
clear	W		8		When this register is written to, it clears the timer.

Implementation

Let’s add this bridging function inside the Timer component.

case class Timer(width : Int) extends Component {
...
  // The function prototype uses Scala currying funcName(arg1,arg2)(arg3,arg3)
  // which allow to call the function with a nice syntax later
  // This function also returns an area, which allows to keep names of inner signals in the generated VHDL/Verilog.
  def driveFrom(busCtrl: BusSlaveFactory, baseAddress: BigInt)(ticks: Seq[Bool], clears: Seq[Bool]) = new Area {
    // Offset 0 => clear/tick masks + bus
    val ticksEnable = busCtrl.createReadAndWrite(Bits(ticks.length bits), baseAddress + 0,0) init(0)
    val clearsEnable = busCtrl.createReadAndWrite(Bits(clears.length bits), baseAddress + 0,16) init(0)
    val busClearing = False

    io.clear := (clearsEnable & clears.asBits).orR | busClearing
    io.tick := (ticksEnable  & ticks.asBits ).orR

    // Offset 4 => read/write limit (+ auto clear)
    busCtrl.driveAndRead(io.limit, baseAddress + 4)
    busClearing.setWhen(busCtrl.isWriting(baseAddress + 4))

    // Offset 8 => read timer value / write => clear timer value
    busCtrl.read(io.value, baseAddress + 8)
    busClearing.setWhen(busCtrl.isWriting(baseAddress + 8))
  }
}

Usage

Here is some demonstration code which is very close to the one used in the Pinsec SoC timer module. Basically it instantiates following elements:

One 16 bit prescaler
One 32 bit timer
Three 16 bit timers

Then by using an Apb3SlaveFactory and functions defined inside the Timers, it creates bridging logic between the APB3 bus and all instantiated components.

  val io = new Bundle {
    val apb = slave(Apb3(Apb3Config(addressWidth=8, dataWidth=32)))
    val interrupt = out Bool()
    val external = new Bundle {
      val tick = in Bool()
      val clear = in Bool()
    }
  }

  //Prescaler is very similar to the timer, it mainly integrates a piece of auto reload logic.
  val prescaler = Prescaler(width = 16)

  val timerA = Timer(width = 32)
  val timerB,timerC,timerD = Timer(width = 16)

  val busCtrl = Apb3SlaveFactory(io.apb)
  
  prescaler.driveFrom(busCtrl, 0x00)

  timerA.driveFrom(busCtrl, 0x40)(
    ticks=List(True, prescaler.io.overflow),
    clears=List(timerA.io.full)
  )
  timerB.driveFrom(busCtrl, 0x50)(
    ticks=List(True, prescaler.io.overflow, io.external.tick),
    clears=List(timerB.io.full, io.external.clear)
  )
  timerC.driveFrom(busCtrl, 0x60)(
    ticks=List(True, prescaler.io.overflow, io.external.tick),
    clears=List(timerC.io.full, io.external.clear)
  )
  timerD.driveFrom(busCtrl, 0x70)(
    ticks=List(True, prescaler.io.overflow, io.external.tick),
    clears=List(timerD.io.full, io.external.clear)
  )

  val interruptCtrl = InterruptCtrl(4)
  interruptCtrl.driveFrom(busCtrl, 0x10)
  interruptCtrl.io.inputs(0) := timerA.io.full
  interruptCtrl.io.inputs(1) := timerB.io.full
  interruptCtrl.io.inputs(2) := timerC.io.full
  interruptCtrl.io.inputs(3) := timerD.io.full
  io.interrupt := interruptCtrl.io.pendings.orR
}