PluriBus CSIX-L1 -- NPSI SmartBridge™

CSIX Level 1 to NPSI Bridge Core

SmartBridge Features:

  • Bi-directional CSIX-L1 to NPSI Bridge

  • Datagram translation for ingress and egress unicast, multicast bitmap, and multicast ID traffic

  • CSIX-L2 header processing (optional)

  • Flow control message translation for ingress and egress unicast, multicast, and class flow control

  • Automatic handling of CSIX all-port and all-class flow control (wild card)

  • Per-class XON/XOFF state memory for efficient handling of all-class flow control

  • Independent and decoupled link level flow control for each interface

  • Modular architecture that allows easy addition of application-specific packet processing

  • ASIC and FPGA implementation

  • 12.8 Gb/s throughput in each direction in FPGAs.

CSIX-L1 Features:

  • Individual FIFOs for data and flow control C-frames.

  • Programmable FIFO sizes and thresholds (empty and full)

  • Programmable 32 / 64/ 128-bit physical data bus sizes.

  • Automatic CR/DR generation and handling.

  • Programmable max payload transfer size up to 256 bytes for each data and flow control C-frames

  • Horizontal (Out of band) and Vertical (Inband) Parity generation/checking

NPSI Features:

  • NPSI NPE-Fabric mode.

  • DIP-4 Parity generation/checking1

  • Extended Address Data Burst without Address Data Words (ADW)

  • Handles continuous back-to-back End Of Packets (EOP) (2N + 1-byte packets) with shared control words1

  • High-speed status channel framing and DIP-2 generation and checking.

  • Automatic generation and handling of Link Level flow control (Data Ready (DR))

  • Automatic generation and handling of Status Not Ready (SNR)

  • Loss of Data Synchronization (LODS) and Loss of Status Synchronization (LOSS) detection and generation

  • Training Sequence generation and detection

  • Static and dynamic timing alignment (target device dependent)

1 Patent pending technology

Standards Compliance:

  • NPF Streaming Interface

  • NPF CSIX Level 1

  • OIF SPI-4 Phase 2

  • Saturn Group (PMC-Sierra) POS-PHY L4

Additional Information:

Description

Modelware’s CSIX-NPSI SmartBridge provides bi-directional interface and protocol translation between the CSIX-L1 and the NPSI interfaces.  This bridge product provides the interoperability solution for Network Processors and Switch Fabrics using the NPSI and CSIX interface standards.

Within the bridge, each type of data flow (unicast and multicast) is decoded and translated automatically between CSIX and NPSI for both ingress and egress directions at wire speed and with support for the CSIX L2 header.  In addition, flow control messages (unicast, multicast, and class) are also translated automatically for both directions.  The bridge maintains flow control state information for the most efficient handling of all-class and one-class flow control messaging.  The link level flow control on both the CSIX and NPSI interfaces is decoupled and handled automatically.  The bridge’s modular architecture allows the easy addition of application-specific packet processing.

The CSIX-NPSI SmartBridge can be implemented in ASICs or FPGAs.