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The de facto Standard for On-Chip Fabric Communication
The AMBA® protocol is an open standard, on-chip bus specification that details a strategy for the interconnection and management
of functional blocks that makes up a System-on-Chip (SoC). It facilitates "right-first-time" development of embedded processors
with one or more CPU/signal processors and multiple peripherals. The AMBA protocol enhances a reusable design methodology
by defining a common backbone for SoC modules.
Originally developed in 1995, the AMBA Specification has been refined and extended with additional protocol support to provide
the capabilities required for SoC design, culminating in the current AMBA 3 specification.
IP re-use is an essential component in reducing SoC development costs and timescales. AMBA provides the interface standard
that enables IP re-use meeting the essential requirements of:
Flexibility
IP re-use requires a common standard while supporting a wide variety of SoCs with different power, performance and area requirements.
With its AXI, AHB and APB interface protocols, AMBA 3 has the flexibility to match every requirement.
Multi-Layer
The Multi-layer architecture acts as a crossbar switch between masters and slaves in an AMBA 3 AXI or AHB system. The parallel
links allow the bandwidth of the interconnect to support the peak bandwidth of the masters without increasing the frequency
of the interconnect.
Compatibility
It is a standard interface specification that ensures compatibility between IP components from different design teams or vendors.
The AMBA specification is available as both a written specification as well as a set of assertions that unambiguously define
the interface protocol, thus ensuring this level of compatibility.
Support
AMBA’s wide adoption throughout the semiconductor industry has driven a comprehensive market in third party IP products and
tools to support the development of AMBA based systems. The availability of AMBA assertions and the AMBA Assured programme
promote this industry wide participation.
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