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We would like to tightly-couple a FPGA with a µC by means of the external static memory memory controller, thereby effectively mapping the FPGA registers into main memory of the µC with maximum bandwidth. Possible candidates (amongst others?!) are the STM32F4xx and LPC43xx series, both with a 8/16/32-bit parallel External Static Memory Controller.

Of course these parallel interfaces require a lot of IOs (mostly address and data lines) and we are grateful for every pin we can spare.

The STM32 FSMC peripheral provides the ability to multiplex between address and data lines, which saves a lot of pins at the cost of only a single cycle. As far as I can tell, this ability is not mentioned in the LPC43xx datasheet/manual.

Am I missing something in the LPC43xx datasheet, or is this feature really only available in the STM32F4xx family?

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    \$\begingroup\$ If you were only doing contiguous-block access, you probably don't need the address lines anyway - you can just pre-agree or pre-load a starting address (perhaps temporarily use the pins as GPIOs) and auto-increment from there. How many address lines do you need anyway? "Registers" are usually limited in number, implying not very many, while you have a huge address space available so you can probably use a single high order line as a chip select and ignore the rest, accepting aliasing. \$\endgroup\$
    – Chris Stratton
    Oct 1, 2014 at 17:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Chris I really would like to allow random instead of auto-increment access. But your suggestion is welcome! \$\endgroup\$
    – Arne
    Oct 1, 2014 at 17:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ How many registers? \$\endgroup\$
    – Chris Stratton
    Oct 1, 2014 at 17:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ChrisStratton unknown :-) depends on how well my colleagues wrap their heads around VHDL. I guess 8-bit addresses/data are enough which are 16 IOs then. Still acceptable. \$\endgroup\$
    – Arne
    Oct 1, 2014 at 17:43
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    \$\begingroup\$ It's funny you should mention this. I'm doing this very thing with an STM32F405 using a multiplexed bus. This is not yet debugged as the boards are due back from the EMS in about 2 weeks. You may want to look again, I believe that external 32-bit data bus is not available from the FSMC. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tut
    Oct 1, 2014 at 18:15

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Seems like all the NXP parts are mssing the multiplexing feature of the STM32 FSMC. This is a pitty since their errata sheets are generally much less intimidating than those of ST. However since at least the DMA bugs have been fixed in the STM32F427 and STM32F429, I'll stay with ST.

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