PCIe OVERVIEW

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DATALINK LAYER OVERVIEW
• The Data Link Layer acts as an intermediate stage between the
Transaction Layer and the Physical Layer.
• Services provided by the Data Link Layer include:
i. Data Exchange
ii. Error Detection and Retry
iii. Initialization and power management
iv. Data Link Layer Packets (DLLPs)

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Frame structure of DATA LINK LAYER

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DATA INTEGRITY
• Data Link Layer applies a Sequence Number and a Link CRC
(LCRC) to TLP for Error detection.
• The Receive Data Link Layer validates received TLPs by checking
the TLP Sequence Number.
• The size of LCRC is 16-bit.
• The size of Sequence number is 12-bit.

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DATA LINK LAYER PACKETS
• The Data Link Layer tracks the state of the Link. It communicates
Link status with the Transaction and Physical Layers.
• Ack DLLP
• Nak DLLP
• DLLP used for Power Management

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Data Link Control and Management State Machine
Reset

DL
Inactive

DL_Init

DL_Active

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TOP
PCIe_test

PCIe_env Scoreboard

PCIe_agent

Coverage Monitor

Sequencer Driver DUT

RECEIVER

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