Direct memory access

AJAL.A.J

Assistant Professor Dept of ECE,

UNIVERSAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE

Mob: 8907305642 MAIL: ec2reach@gmail.com

 The DMA I/O technique provides direct access to the memory while the microprocessor is
temporarily disabled.

Three ways to synchronize the processor to data

rate of peripherals:
1- Polling: which provides a fast response but it the processor recourses are dedicated to one
peripheral.
2- Interrupt approach: is much more efficient. the processor only services the peripheral when
data is required. requires high software overhead.
3-DMA is a third solution but it increases the complexity of the hardware system.

DMA
Direct Memory Access.
In memory-memory or memory-peripherals communication, the processor is a middleman
which is not really needed.
Used with HOLD HOLDA signals.
DMA requires another processor - The DMA Controller or DMAC- to generate the memory and
I/O addresses.
8237 is a DMAC.
In IBM PC, 8237 was used to speed up the read or write operation by the slow 8088
processor.
Nowadays, It is usually used by sound cards and by memory controllers to generate row
address for refreshing.

I/O Data Transfer

 Direct memory access (DMA) is a feature of modern computer systems that allows certain
hardware subsystems to read/write data to/from memory without microprocessor intervention,
allowing the processor to do other work.
Used in disk controllers, video/sound cards etc, or between memory locations
.
Typically, the CPU initiates DMA transfer, does other operations while the transfer is in progress,
and receives an interrupt from the DMA controller once the operation is complete.
Can create cache coherency problems (the data in the cache may be different from the data in the
external memory after DMA)
Basic DMA concept

 DMA channel: system pathway used by a device to transfer information directly to and from
memory. There are usually 8 in a computer system
DMA controller: dedicated hardware used for controlling the DMA operation
Single-cycle mode: DMA data transfer is done one byte at a time
Burst-mode: DMA transfer is finished when all data has been moved
BASIC DMA TERMINOLOGY

DMA pins and timing

<number>
x86 Interrupt Pins
HOLD: DMA request.
Sampled in the middle of any clocking cycle
HLDA: DMA acknowledge signal.
The address, data and control buses are set to high-Z, so the I/O devices can
control the system bus

DMA on the 8086 Microprocessor

<number>
The CPU may have to wait (hold cycles).
The DMA will then let the device that requested the DMA transfer know that the transfer is
commencing by asserting the -DACK signal.
Once the data has been transferred, The DMA will de-assert the -DACK2 signal, so that the
FDC knows it must stop placing data on the bus.
The DMA will now check to see if any of the other DMA channels have any work to do. If
none of the channels have their DRQ lines asserted, the DMA controller has completed its
work and will now tri-state the -MEMR, -MEMW, -IOR, -IOW and address signals.
Finally, the DMA will de-assert the HOLD signal. The CPU sees this, and de-asserts the
HOLDA signal. Now the CPU resumes control of the buses and address lines, and it resumes
executing instructions and accessing main memory and the peripherals.

8237 pins
<number>
CLK: System clock
CS: Chip select (decoder output)
RESET: Clears registers, sets mask register
READY: 0 for inserting wait states
HLDA: Signals that the p has relinquished buses
DREQ3 DREQ0: DMA request input for each channel
DB7-DB0: Data bus pins
IOR: Bidirectional pin used during programming
and during a DMA write cycle
IOW: Bidirectional pin used during programming
and during a DMA read cycle
EOP: End of process is a bidirectional signal used as input to terminate a DMA process or as
output to signal the end of the DMA transfer
A3-A0: Address pins for selecting internal registers
A7-A4: Outputs that provide part of the DMA transfer address
HRQ: DMA request output
DACK3-DACK0: DMA acknowledge for each channel.
AEN: Address enable signal
ADSTB: Address strobe
MEMR: Memory read output used in DMA read cycle
MEMW: Memory write output used in DMA write cycle
8237

 8237/
8257

Minimal System with a DMA Controller

Request
Peripheral
Device
DMA Controller
Memory
Acknowledge
CPU
On-Chip-Bus
Interrupt
Bus Arbiter

 8237 DMA controller

Description of pin diagram

D0-D7:
it is a bidirectional ,tri state ,Buffered ,Multiplexed data (D0-D7)and (A8-A15).
In the slave mode it is a bidirectional (Data is moving).
In the Master mode it is a unidirectional (Address is moving).

IOR:
IOR:
It is active low ,tristate ,buffered ,Bidirectional lines.
In the slave mode it function as a input line. IOR signal is generated by microprocessor to read
the contents 8257 registers.
In the master mode it function as a output line. IOR signal is generated by 8257 during write
cycle

IOW:
IOW:
It is active low ,tristate ,buffered ,Bidirectional control lines.
In the slave mode it function as a input line. IOR signal is generated by microprocessor to write
the contents 8257 registers.
In the master mode it function as a output line. IOR signal is generated by 8257 during read
cycle

CLK:
CLK:
It is the input line ,connected with TTL clock generator.
This signal is ignored in slave mode.
RESET:
Used to clear mode set registers and status registers
A0-A3:
These are the tristate, buffer, bidirectional address lines.
In slave mode ,these lines are used as address inputs lines and internally decoded to access
the internal registers.
In master mode, these lines are used as address outputs lines,A0-A3 bits of memory address
on the lines.

CS:
CS:
It is active low, Chip select input line.
In the slave mode, it is used to select the chip.
In the master mode, it is ignored.
A4-A7:
These are the tristate, buffer, output address lines.
In slave mode ,these lines are used as address input lines.
In master mode, these lines are used as address outputs lines,A0-A3 bits of memory address
on the lines.

READY:
READY:
It is a asynchronous input line.
In master mode,
When ready is high it receives the signal.
When ready is low, it adds wait state between S1 and S3
In slave mode ,
this signal is ignored.
HRQ:
It is used to receiving the hold request signal from the output device.

HLDA:
HLDA:
It is acknowledgment signal from microprocessor.
MEMR:
It is active low ,tristate ,Buffered control output line.
In slave mode, it is tristated.
In master mode ,it activated during DMA read cycle.
MEMW:
It is active low ,tristate ,Buffered control input line.
In slave mode, it is tristated.
In master mode ,it activated during DMA write cycle.

AEN (Address enable):

AEN (Address enable):
It is a control output line.
In master mode ,it is high
In slave mode ,it is low
Used it isolate the system address ,data ,and control lines.
ADSTB: (Address Strobe)
It is a control output line.
Used to split data and address line.
It is working in master mode only.
In slave mode it is ignore.

TC (Terminal Count):
TC (Terminal Count):
It is a status of output line.
It is activated in master mode only.
It is high ,it selected the peripheral.
It is low ,it free and looking for a new peripheral.
MARK:
It is a modulo 128 MARK output line.
It is activated in master mode only.
It goes high ,after transferring every 128 bytes of data block.

DRQ0-DRQ3 (DMA Request):

DRQ0-DRQ3 (DMA Request):
These are the asynchronous peripheral request input signal.
The request signals is generated by external peripheral device.
DACK0-DACK3:
These are the active low DMA acknowledge output lines.
Low level indicate that ,peripheral is selected for giving the information (DMA cycle).
In master mode it is used for chip select.

 HLDA becomes active to indicate the processor has placed its buses at high-impedance state.
as can be seen in the timing diagram, there are a few clock cycles between the time
that HOLD changes and until HLDA changes
HLDA output is a signal to the requesting device that the processor has relinquished control
of its memory and I/O space.
one could call HOLD input a DMA request input and HLDA output a DMA grant
signal

8237 block diagram

<number>

Description
It containing Five main Blocks.
Data bus buffer
Read/Control logic
Control logic block
Priority resolver
DMA channels.

DATA BUS BUFFER:

DATA BUS BUFFER:
It contain tristate ,8 bit bi-directional buffer.
Slave mode ,it transfer data between microprocessor and internal data bus.
Master mode ,the outputs A8-A15 bits of memory address on data lines (Unidirectional).
READ/CONTROL LOGIC:
It control all internal Read/Write operation.
Slave mode ,it accepts address bits and control signal from microprocessor.
Master mode ,it generate address bits and control signal.

Control logic block:

Control logic block:
It contains ,
Control logic
Mode set register and
Status Register.
CONTROL LOGIC:
Master mode ,It control the sequence of DMA operation during all DMA cycles.
It generates address and control signals.
It increments 16 bit address and decrement 14 bit counter registers.
It activate a HRQ signal on DMA channel Request.
Slave ,mode it is disabled.

FIGURE A DMA controller allows the peripheral

to interface directly with memory without
processor intervention. This allows the data
transfer rate to approach the access time of
memory.
Types:
Sequential DMA
Simultaneous DMA

FIGURE Three methods (MODES) of DMA

operation: (a) byte; (b) burst; (c) block.

DMA is implemented using a DMA controller

DMA controller
Acts as slave to processor
Receives instructions from processor
Example: Reading from an I/O device
Processor gives details to the DMA controller
I/O device number
Main memory buffer address
Number of bytes to transfer
Direction of transfer (memory I/O device, or vice versa)

 Processor initiates the DMA controller

Gives device number, memory buffer pointer,
Called channel initialization
Once initialized, it is ready for data transfer
When ready, I/O device informs the DMA controller
DMA controller starts the data transfer process
Obtains bus by going through bus arbitration
Places memory address and appropriate control signals
Completes transfer and releases the bus
Updates memory address and count value
If more to read, loops back to repeat the process
Notify the processor when done
Typically uses an interrupt
Steps in a DMA operation

 DMA controller details

Modes of Operation
Rotating priority Mode:
The priority of the channels has a circular sequence.
Fixed Priority Rotating Mode:
The priority is fixed.
TC Stop Mode
Auto Load mode
Extended Write mode

DMA Cycles
DMA read
DMA write
DMA Verify