ASIC Point Explore

Silicon Lab

Protocols Problems

Build a design, hunt its bugs, or repair what fails. Every answer runs on a real simulator.

Build starts from a specification: make it work, then make it small or fast. Bug Hunt asks for the checker or the test that catches broken designs. Repair hands you a failure: find the cause, then fix the design.

01

On-Chip Interconnect Protocols

Bus basics, then the AMBA buses: AXI, APB and AHB.

13 problems

Protocols · P1 Protocol Fundamentals

  1. P1.3.2 Catch the Broken Sources 1350 Verify Hard Browser
  2. P1.10.1 Properties for the Link 1350 Verify Hard Verilator
  3. P1.11.1 Catch Every Broken Link 1425 Verify Hard Browser

Protocols · P2 AXI

  1. P2.2.1 Catch the Broken Managers 1350 Verify Hard Browser
  2. P2.3.1 The Write Dependencies 1350 Verify Hard Browser
  3. P2.10.1 The Same-ID Order Checker 1425 Verify Hard Browser
  4. P2.16.1 Six Properties for the Link 1425 Verify Hard Verilator
  5. P2.18.1 Catch Every Broken Subordinate 1425 Verify Hard Browser

Protocols · P3 APB

  1. P3.8.1 Properties for the APB Link 1350 Verify Hard Verilator
  2. P3.10.1 Catch Every Broken Completer 1425 Verify Hard Browser

Protocols · P4 AHB

  1. P4.4.1 The Hold Checker 1425 Verify Hard Browser
  2. P4.10.1 Properties for the AHB Link 1425 Verify Hard Verilator
  3. P4.12.1 Catch Every Broken Subordinate 1425 Verify Hard Browser
02

Peripheral & Serial Interface Protocols

Serial fundamentals, then UART, SPI and QSPI, I2C and I3C.

10 problems

Module P6 · Protocols · P6 UART

  1. P6.5.2 Check UART Errors Without False Alarms 1650 Verify Hard Browser
  2. P6.7.1 A UART Monitor That Earns Its Verdict 1650 Verify Hard Browser

Module P7 · Protocols · P7 SPI and QSPI

  1. P7.2.1 Check Mode and Edge Discipline 1650 Verify Hard Browser
  2. P7.5.2 Prove the SPI Sampling Edge 1650 Verify Hard Verilator
  3. P7.10.1 Check the Controller and Its Flash Model 1650 Verify Hard Browser

Module P8 · Protocols · P8 I2C

  1. P8.5.2 Verify a Controller Under Legal Stretching 1200 Verify Medium Browser
  2. P8.6.2 Prove Arbitration Withdrawal 1650 Verify Hard Verilator
  3. P8.7.1 Measure Logical I2C Timing Without Rejecting a Stretch 1650 Verify Hard Browser
  4. P8.11.1 Verify the Target Across Its Transaction Boundaries 1650 Verify Hard Browser

Module P9 · Protocols · P9 I3C

  1. P9.8.1 Catch Contention and Legacy Stretching 1200 Verify Medium Browser
03

High-Speed Interface Protocols

The links that carry data off the chip at speed.

Coming soon