Hello!
Here is part 2 of the Serial Memory Interface (SMIF) feature in PSoC 6.
As described in a earlier post, the Serial Memory Interface (SMIF) in PSoC 6 operates in two modes of operation, the Command mode (MMIO) and Memory Mapped mode (XIP). The memory mapped mode configures the external memory to be mapped into the PSoC 6 address space. This lets the user execute code from external memory or even use the external RAM memories as System RAM. The SMIF hardware implements two cache memory blocks of 4KB each. These cache are for improving performance of the memory mapped mode. These two blocks are available to serve CM0+ and CM4 masters independently.
One of the main focuses of the PSoC 6 family of devices is its emphasis on security. One important feature in this aspect for SMIF is encryption. The SMIF block has an inbuilt 128-bit AES encryption engine. This encryption hardware is dedicated for the SMIF block. This encryption is available for usage in both the Memory mapped (XIP) and command (MMIO) mode of operation. In the XIP mode the cryptography hardware supports on the fly encryption in write operations and on the fly decryption for read operations. Encryption support can be enabled/disabled, for individual external memory device slaves. Thus once configured initially the encryption feature is automatic and almost invisible.
The SMIF interface will be supported by a feature-rich SMIF driver and an associated GUI based configuration tool. The driver will provide easy to use functions for the users to set up the SMIF block for XIP mode. The driver will also have functions to create command formats in command (MMIO) mode of operation. This will be used to implement special commands supported by different memory vendors.
A GUI based tool is also distributed with the driver. The GUI based configuration tool can be used to configure different preset memory devices to different slave slots in the SMIF. New memory devices can also be added to the data base using a simple interface. The GUI also provides an easy way of defining the addresses to map the memories and also their attributes like encryption. The tool is then used to generate the code that can be used along with the SMIF driver.
Feel free to leave comments and ask questions!
