General Data Cache Functionality - 2024.1 English - UG1629

MicroBlaze V Processor Reference Guide (UG1629)

Document ID
UG1629
Release Date
2024-05-30
Version
2024.1 English

When the data cache is used, the memory address space is split into two segments: a cacheable segment and a non-cacheable segment. The cacheable area is determined by two parameters: C_DCACHE_BASEADDR and C_DCACHE_HIGHADDR. All addresses within this range correspond to the cacheable address space. All other addresses are non-cacheable.

The cacheable segment size must be 2N, where N is a positive integer. The range specified by C_DCACHE_BASEADDR and C_DCACHE_HIGHADDR must comprise a complete power-of-two range, such that range = 2N and the N least significant bits of C_DCACHE_BASEADDR must be zero.

The following figure shows the data cache organization.

Figure 1. Data Cache Organization

The cacheable data address consists of two parts: the cache address, and the tag address. The data cache can be configured from 64 bytes to 64 kB. This corresponds to a cache address of between 6 and 16 bits. The tag address together with the cache address should match the full address of cacheable memory. When selecting cache sizes below 2 kB, distributed RAM is used to implement the tag RAM and data RAM. Distributed RAM is always used to implement the tag RAM, when setting the parameter C_DCACHE_FORCE_TAG_LUTRAM to 1. This parameter is only available with cache size 8 kB and less for 4 word cache-lines, with 16 kB and less for 8 word cache-lines, and with 32 kB and less for 16 word cache-lines.

For example, in a 32-bit MicroBlaze V configured with C_DCACHE_BASEADDR= 0x0040_0000, C_DCACHE_HIGHADDR= 0x0040_3fff, C_DCACHE_BYTE_SIZE= 2048, C_DCACHE_LINE_LEN= 4, and C_DCACHE_FORCE_TAG_LUTRAM= 0; the cacheable memory of 16 kB uses 14 bits of byte address, and the 2 kB cache uses 11 bits of byte address, thus the required address tag width is 14-11=3 bits. The total number of block RAM primitives required in this configuration is 1 RAMB16 for storing the 512 data words, and 1 RAMB16 for 128 cache line entries, each consisting of 3 bits of tag, 4 word-valid bits, 1 line-valid bit. The total is 2 RAMB16 primitives.