CAES RISC-V NOEL-ARTYA7-EX User manual

RISC-V Processor
NOEL-ARTYA7-EX
NOEL-ARTYA7-EX-UM
Jul 2022, Version 2.0
Cobham Gaisler AB
Kungsgatan | SE-411 19 | Goteborg | Sweden
[phone] | www.caes.com/gaisler
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USER MANUAL JUL 2022
NOEL-ARTYA7-EX Features
•RISC-V NOEL-V processor with 64-bit architec-
ture 16 KiB instruction and 16 KiB data caches,
memory management unit, hardware multiplier
and divider, in single and multi-core configura-
tions
• RISC-V standard Platform-Level Interrupt Con-
troller
• RISC-V standard PMP
• RISC-V standard debug support
• Level-2 cache
• DDR4 SDRAM
• UART, Timers, GPIO port, Status registers
• Ethernet 10/100 Mbit MAC interface
Description
The NOEL-ARTYA7 FPGA bitstreams are a collection
of example designs built from Cobham Gaisler’s
GRLIB IP library using a template design for Xilinx
Artix-7devices. The example designs are suitable for
evaluation of NOEL microprocessors in system-on-
chip designs.
Specification
• Targets Arty A7: Artix-7 FPGA Development
Board (A7-100T version)
Applications
The NOEL/GRLIB template designs can be adapted as multiple configurations,
covering instrument, payload and control applications.

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Cobham Gaisler AB
Kungsgatan | SE-411 19 | Goteborg | Sweden
[phone] | www.caes.com/gaisler
Table of contents
1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 3
1.1 Scope ....................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Document revision history ...................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Reference documents .............................................................................................................................. 3
2 Example designs ...................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 4
2.2 Configurations ......................................................................................................................................... 5
3 Architecture.............................................................................................................................. 6
3.1 Cores........................................................................................................................................................ 6
3.2 Interrupts ................................................................................................................................................. 6
3.3 Memory map ........................................................................................................................................... 6
3.4 IP core documentation............................................................................................................................. 8
3.5 Signals ..................................................................................................................................................... 9
3.6 Resource utilization................................................................................................................................. 9
4 Working with the board.......................................................................................................... 10
4.1 Prerequisites .......................................................................................................................................... 10
4.2 Programming the FPGA device and connecting with GRMON3 ......................................................... 10
4.3 Support .................................................................................................................................................. 10
5 Ordering information ............................................................................................................. 11

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Cobham Gaisler AB
Kungsgatan | SE-411 19 | Goteborg | Sweden
[phone] | www.caes.com/gaisler
1 Introduction
1.1 Scope
The NOEL line of processors and the GRLIB IP library has support for Digilent Arty A7 board. This
support consists of a techmap layer that wraps specific technology elements such as memory macros
and pads. GRLIB also contains a template designs for developments boards such as the Digilent Arty
A7 (A7-100T version) and infrastructure that automatically builds project files for Xilinx Vivado and
synthesis tools such as Mentor Precision Hi-Rel and Synopsys Synplify Premier.
This document describes ready-made FPGA configurations (bitstreams) that have been built from a
GRLIB template design.
More information about the NOEL-V processor is available at www.gaisler.com/NOEL-V
1.2 Document revision history
1.3 Reference documents
[AMBA] AMBATM Specification, Rev 2.0, ARM IHI 0011A, 13 May 1999, Issue A, first release,
ARM Limited
[GRLIB] GRLIB IP Library User's Manual, Cobham Gaisler, www.Cobhamaes.com/gaisler
[GRIP] GRLIB IP Core User's Manual, Cobham Gaisler, www.Cobhamaes.com/gaisler
[QSG] NOEL-ARTYA7-EX Quick Start Guide, NOEL-ARTYA7-EX-QSG, www.gaisler.com/
NOEL-ARTYA7
Table 1. Change record
Version Date Note
1.0 2020 December First issue
1.1 2022 February EX1 includes H extension. Other minor corrections.
2.0 2022 July Updated example configurations

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NOEL-ARTYA7-EX
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2 Example designs
2.1 Overview
The NOEL-ARTYA7-EX example designs are based on a common architecture. The architecture is
centered around the AMBA [AMBA] Advanced High-speed Bus (AHB), to which the processor(s)
and other high-bandwidth units are connected. Low-bandwidth units are connected to the AMBA
Advanced Peripheral Bus (APB) which is accessed through an AHB to APB bridge. The architecture
for the basic design is shown in figure 1. Please also note that while not shown in the block diagram
above, the Ethernet controller (GRETH) is also connected to the main AHB bus and not only the
Debug AHB bus.
The full NOEL-ARTYA7 architecture includes the following modules:
• NOEL-V with 16 KiB instruction cache and 16 KiB data cache.
• Debug Support Unit with UART, Ethernet, and JTAG Debug Links
• Level-2 cache controller
• Xilinx MIG DDR3 SDRAM controller
• Timer unit with two 32-bit timers
• Platform-Level Interrupt Controller
• UART with FIFO and separate baud rate generator
• General purpose I/O port (GPIO).
• AMBA AHB status register
The GRLIB IP library contains a template design that has been used as the base for NOEL-ARTYA7-
EX designs. The template design can easily be extended to add additional GRLIB IP library IP cores
such as:
• Memory controllers with EDAC
• SpaceWire links with CRC support and hardware RMAP target
• SpaceFibre links
• Mil-Std-1553 BC/BM/RT
A full list of GRLIB IP library components can be found in [GRIP]. The GRLIB user’s manual is
available on-line [GRLIB].
Figure 1. Architectural block diagram of NOEL-ARTYA7-EX

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2.2 Configurations
Table 2 below lists the NOEL-ARTYA7-EX example configurations. The bitstreams with example
designs are intended to cover a wide range of application scenarios. Note that current available bit-
streams have some limitations compared to the listed configuration.
The bitstreams are available for download from https://gaisler.com/NOEL-ARTYA7
Note: The configurations above are examples on how to use the GRLIB IP cores on ARTYA7. All IP
cores have several configuration parameters and are individually configurable.
Note: The NOEL-V processor can be configured in several different standard configurations, includ-
ing more RV32 variants, the configurations are listed at https://www.gaisler.com/NOEL-V
Note: While software may report that fault-tolerance is enabled for the example designs, the bit-
streams are not suitable for use in harsh environments.
Table 2. Example configurations
Configuration name MC32L-SC GP32L-SC MC64-SC GP64L-SC
Artix-7 device XC7A100T XC7A100T XC7A100T XC7A100T
Processor NOEL-V NOEL-V NOEL-V NOEL-V
RISC-V extensions* RV64-IMA RV32-
IMACFD
RV64-
IMCAFD
RV64-
IMCAFD
Memory Management Unit
(MMU)
No Yes No Yes
Number of processor cores 1 1 1 1
Level-1 cache 8+8 KiB 16+16 KiB 8+8 KiB 16+16 KiB
Hardware multiply&divide Yes Yes Yes Yes
Floating Point Unit No nanoFPU nanoFPU nanoFPU
Physical Memory Protec-
tion (PMP)
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Level-2 cache Yes Yes Yes Yes
UART Debug Link Yes Yes Yes Yes
JTAG Debug Link Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ethernet MAC 10/100 Mbit Yes Yes Yes Yes
Memory Controller Xilinx DDR3
MIG &
AHBROM
Xilinx DDR3
MIG &
AHBROM
Xilinx DDR4
MIG &
AHBROM
Xilinx DDR4
MIG &
AHBROM
Standard peripherals Yes Yes Yes Yes
*Parts of the Bit manipulation and Encryption RISC-V extensions are also
included. See NOEL-V section in GRLIB IP Core User's Manual for more
details

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3 Architecture
3.1 Cores
The architecture is based on cores from the GRLIB IP library. The vendor and device identifiers for
each core can be extracted from the plug & play information. The used IP cores are listed in table 3.
3.2 Interrupts
The NOEL-ARTYA7-EX example designs use the same interrupt assignment for all configurations.
See the description of the individual cores for how and when the interrupts are raised. All interrupts
are handled by the interrupt controller and forwarded to the processor.
3.3 Memory map
The example designs use the same memory map for all standard configurations. The memory map
shown in table 5 is based on the AMBA AHB address space. An access to addresses outside the
Table 3. Used IP cores
Core Function Vendor Device
AHBCTRL AHB Arbiter & Decoder 0x01 -
APBCTRL AHB/APB Bridge 0x01 0x006
NOEL-V NOEL-V RISC-V 64-bit processor 0x01 0xBD
RVDM RISC-V Debug Module 0x01 0xBE
AHBUART Serial/AHB debug interface 0x01 0x007
AHBJTAG JTAG/AHB debug interface 0x01 0x01C
AHBSTAT AHB failing address register 0x01 0x052
APBUART 8-bit UART 0x01 0x00C
GPTIMER Modular timer unit with watchdog 0x01 0x011
GRETH 10/100 Mbit Ethernet MAC 0x01 0x01D
GRGPIO General purpose I/O port 0x01 0x01A
L2CACHE Level-2 Cache Controller 0x01 0x04B
Xilinx MIG Xilinx DDR3 MIG - with GRLIB wrapper 0x01 0x090
Table 4. Interrupt assignment
Core Interrupt Comment
AHBSTAT 4
APBUART 1
GPTIMER 2, 3
GRETH_GBIT 5

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ranges will receive an AHB error response. The detailed register layout is defined in the description of
each individual core.
Table 5. AMBA AHB address range
Core Address range Area
L2CACHE
/ PFDDR4
0x00000000 - 0x3FFFFFFF DDR4 SDRAM area
AHBROM 0xC0000000 - 0xC001FFFF Registers
CLINT 0xE0000000 - 0xE000FFFF Registers
PLIC 0xF8000000 - 0xFBFFFFFF Registers
GPTIMER 0xFC000000 - 0xFC0000FF Registers
APBUART0 0xFC001000 - 0xFC0010FF Registers
GRVERSION 0xFC080000 - 0xFC0800FF Registers
AHBSTAT 0xFC080200 - 0xFC0830FF Registers
GRGPIO 0xFC083000 - 0xFC0830FF Registers
GRETH 0xFC084000 - 0xFC0840FF Registers
AHBUART 0xFC086000 - 0xFC0860FF Registers
Debug Module 0xFE000000 - 0xFEFFFFFF Registers
L2CACHE IOAREA 0xFFF00000 - 0xFF3FFFFF Registers
AHB plug&play 0xFFFFF000 - 0xFFFFFFFF ROM area

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3.4 IP core documentation
This user manual does not contain IP core documentation. Please refer to the GRLIB IP Core User’s
Manual [GRIP] available at http://gaisler.com/products/grlib/grip.pdf.
The GRMON debug monitor also provides information about the system-on-chip’s configuration via
the command info sys.

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[phone] | www.caes.com/gaisler
3.5 Signals
Please see the NOEL-ARTYA7-EX Quick Start Guide [QSG] for information on FPGA pinout.
3.6 Resource utilization
Resource utilization is described in the GRLIB area spreadsheet, available at:
https://www.gaisler.com/products/grlib/grlib_area.xls

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4 Working with the board
4.1 Prerequisites
The following items are required to use NOEL-ARTYA7-EX designs:
• Workstation with Windows or Linux
• Arty A7: Artix-7 FPGA Development Board (A7-100T version)
• NOEL-ARTYA7 bitstream
• GRMON3 debug monitor
The two last items can be downloaded via http://gaisler.com/NOEL-ARTYA7.
Cobham Gaislers standard offer of toolchains can be used to build and run software on the NOEL-
ARTYA7-EX designs. Toolchains and run-time environments are available for download via http://
gaisler.com.
4.2 Programming the FPGA device and connecting with GRMON3
Please see the NOEL-ARTYA7-EX Quick Start Guide [QSG] for information on FPGA programming
and using the SoC design.
4.3 Support
In case of technical issues please contact [e-mail]. The support line is normally available
only to companies and institutions with active support contracts. Limited support for the NOEL-
ARTYA7-EX example designs is provided. When contacting support please provide a clear descrip-
tion of which design that is used and your affiliation.
Sales and licensing questions should be directed to [e-mail].
There is also an open forum available at https://grlib.community .