- Avalon interfaces simplify system design by allowing you to easily connect components in Intel FPGA. The Avalon interface family defines interfaces appropriate for streaming high-speed data, reading and writing registers and memory, and controlling off-chip devices. Components available in Platform Designer incorporate these standard interfaces. Additionally, you can incorporate Avalon interfaces in custom components, enhancing the interoperability of designs. The specification defines the following seven interfaces:
- Avalon Streaming Interface (Avalon-ST)—an interface that supports the unidirectional flow of data, including multiplexed streams, packets, and DSP data.
- Avalon Memory Mapped Interface (Avalon-MM)—an address-based read/write interface typical of master–slave connections.
- Avalon Conduit Interface— an interface type that accommodates individual signals or groups of signals that do not fit into any of the other Avalon types. You can connect conduit interfaces inside a Platform Designer system. Alternatively, you can export them to connect to other modules in the design or to FPGA pins.
- Avalon Tri-State Conduit Interface (Avalon-TC) —an interface to support connections to off-chip peripherals. Multiple peripherals can share pins through signal multiplexing, reducing the pin count of the FPGA and the number of traces on the PCB.
- Avalon Interrupt Interface—an interface that allows components to signal events to other components.
- Avalon Clock Interface—an interface that drives or receives clocks.
- Avalon Reset Interface—an interface that provides reset connectivity.
A single component can include any number of these interfaces and can also include multiple instances of the same interface type[4].