25.6.2.4 Arbitration

If a DMA channel is enabled and not suspended when it receives a transfer trigger, it will send a transfer request to the arbiter. When the arbiter receives the transfer request it will include the DMA channel in the queue of channels having pending transfers, and the corresponding Pending Channel x bit in the Pending Channels registers (PENDCH.PENDCHx) will be set. Depending on the arbitration scheme, the arbiter will choose which DMA channel will be the next active channel. The active channel is the DMA channel being granted access to perform its next burst transfer. When the arbiter has granted a DMA channel access to the DMAC, the corresponding bit PENDCH.PENDCHx will be cleared. See also the following figure.

If the upcoming burst transfer is the first for the transfer request, the corresponding Busy Channel x bit in the Busy Channels register will be set (BUSYCH.BUSYCHx=1), and it will remain '1' for the subsequent granted burst transfers.

When the channel has performed its granted burst transfer(s) it will be either fed into the queue of channels with pending transfers, set to be waiting for a new transfer trigger, suspended, or disabled. This depends on the channel and block transfer configuration. If the DMA channel is fed into the queue of channels with pending transfers, the corresponding BUSYCH.BUSYCHx will remain '1'. If the DMA channel is set to wait for a new transfer trigger, suspended, or disabled, the corresponding BUSYCH.BUSYCHx will be cleared.

If a DMA channel is suspended while it has a pending transfer, it will be removed from the queue of pending channels, but the corresponding PENDCH.PENDCHx will remain set. When the same DMA channel is resumed, it will be added to the queue of pending channels again.

If a DMA channel gets disabled (CHCTRLA.ENABLE=0) while it has a pending transfer, it will be removed from the queue of pending channels, and the corresponding PENDCH.PENDCHx will be cleared.

Priority Levels

When a channel level is pending or the channel is transferring data, the corresponding Level Executing bit is set in the Active Channel and Levels register (ACTIVE.LVLEXx).

Each DMA channel supports a 4-level priority scheme. The priority level for a channel is configured by writing to the Channel Arbitration Level bit group in the Channel Control B register (CHCTRLB.LVL). As long as all priority levels are enabled, a channel with a higher priority level number will have priority over a channel with a lower priority level number. Each priority level x is enabled by setting the corresponding Priority Level x Enable bit in the Control register (CTRL.LVLENx=1).

Within each priority level the DMAC's arbiter can be configured to prioritize statically or dynamically:

Static Arbitration within a priority level is selected by writing a '0' to the Level x Round-Robin Scheduling Enable bit in the Priority Control 0 register (PRICTRL0.RRLVLENx).

When static arbitration is selected, the arbiter will prioritize a low channel number over a high channel number as shown in the figure below. When using the static arbitration there is a risk of high channel numbers never being granted access as the active channel. This can be avoided using a dynamic arbitration scheme.

Dynamic Arbitration within a priority level is selected by writing a '1' to PRICTRL0.RRLVLENx.

The dynamic arbitration scheme in the DMAC is round-robin. With the round-robin scheme, the channel number of the last channel being granted access will have the lowest priority the next time the arbiter has to grant access to a channel within the same priority level, as shown in Figure 25-6. The channel number of the last channel being granted access as the active channel is stored in the Level x Channel Priority Number bit group in the Priority Control 0 register (PRICTRL0.LVLPRIx) for the corresponding priority level.