3.5 DMA Controller

The AVR XMEGA AU MCUs 4-channel Direct Memory Access (DMA) controller enables fast, CPU independent data transfer between any locations in the data memory space and peripherals.

The DMA controller supports four different types of data transfers:

From data memory to data memory
From data memory to peripheral
From peripheral to data memory
From peripheral to peripheral

The DMA controller supports flexible channel priority selection, several addressing modes, and double buffering capabilities. Each DMA transfer can range from 1B to 16 MB. The usage of DMA controller for data transfers increases CPU computing performance and lowering power consumption by allowing the CPU to spend more time in sleep mode. The DMA controller is a powerful module for all data-oriented applications such as signal processing and industrial control.