Meaning
High-speed packetized debug protocol technology allows real-time execution monitoring of microprocessors and field programmable gate arrays. Utilizing a physical layer based on high-speed serial transceivers, aurora serial trace transmits program flow and variable states to an external emulator. This protocol operates over a small number of high-speed lanes, minimizing the required pin count on the target device.
Diagnostic output remains decoupled from the primary application interfaces.
Physical Interface
The physical layer utilizes differential pairs operating at gigabit speeds to stream trace data. Because these serial lines require dedicated routing, designers must control trace impedance and minimize skew between differential signals. High-frequency signals demand careful layout practices to prevent electromagnetic interference on adjacent circuitry.
This interface utilizes standard termination resistors to maintain signal integrity over the transmission path.
Protocol Overhead
Packet encoding introduces minimal transmission latency to ensure that trace packets arrive in correct temporal sequence. Hardware blocks serialize the trace messages with embedded clock information, eliminating the need for a separate clock line. Receiver boards must lock onto the incoming stream to reconstruct the debug timeline.
This process runs independently of the main processor cores, ensuring that testing does not alter the execution timing of the system.
Hardware Verification
Verification teams monitor these diagnostic streams to debug complex system interactions during board bring-up. The trace data exposes hardware-software conflicts that are otherwise hidden. This tool proves indispensable during long-term reliability tests.
