STM32MP1 DMA

Applicable for

STM32MP13x lines, STM32MP15x lines

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1. Article purpose

This article explains the STM32MP1 Series DMA topology and the associated configurations recommended by ST.

2. DMA specificities per STM32 MPU devices

2.1. STM32MP13x lines 

The STM32MP13xx MPUs feature four DMA instances:

• 1 MDMA internal peripheral dedicated to the transfers between some internal peripherals and the external memories (DDR), and between the internal and external memories.
• 3 DMA internal peripheral (DMA1/DMA2/DMA3) dedicated to the transfers between internal peripherals and the internal SRAM. The DMA1 and DMA2 instances are coupled with DMAMUX1. DMA3 is coupled with DMAMUX2: DMAMUX internal peripheral is in charge of routing the internal peripheral requests to the DMA channels.

Information

Transfers between internal peripherals and DDR, via DMA1/DMA2/DMA3, are possible but not recommended for high-bandwidth or latency-critical transfers.

2.2. STM32MP15x lines 

The STM32MP15xx MPUs feature three DMA instances:

• 1 MDMA internal peripheral dedicated to the transfers between some internal peripherals and the external memories (DDR), and between the internal and external memories.
• 2 DMA internal peripheral (DMA1/DMA2) dedicated to the transfers between internal peripherals and the internal SRAM. These two DMA instances are coupled with a DMAMUX internal peripheral in charge of routing the internal peripheral requests to the DMA channels.

Information

Transfers between internal peripherals and DDR, via DMA1/DMA2, are possible but not recommended for high-bandwidth or latency-critical transfers.

3. DMA configurations

The following figures show the different DMA configurations available on STM32MP1 and the associated requests and data connections. The legend below illustrates the request lines and datapath.

• Internal peripherals - internal SRAM with DMA transfer

In this configuration, the dataflow is:

• peripheral to memory direction: data are directly transferred from the peripheral to the final internal RAM buffer by DMA.
• memory to peripheral direction: data are transferred from the original internal SRAM buffer to the peripheral by DMA.

• Internal peripherals - DDR with MDMA transfer

In this configuration, the dataflow is:

• peripheral to memory direction: data are directly transferred from the peripheral to the final DDR buffer by MDMA.
• memory to peripheral direction: data are transferred from the original DDR buffer to the peripheral by MDMA.

• Internal peripherals - DDR with DMA - MDMA chained transfer

In this configuration, the dataflow is:

• peripheral to memory direction: data are transferred from the peripheral to the temporary internal SRAM buffer by DMA, then from the temporary internal SRAM buffer to the DDR buffer by MDMA.
• memory to peripheral direction: data are transferred from the DDR buffer to the temporary internal SRAM buffer by MDMA, then from the temporary internal SRAM buffer to the peripheral by DMA.

For more information about the DMA controllers above, and to know the DMA configuration that must be used with each internal peripheral, refer to reference manuals corresponding to the used STM32 MPU .

4. STMicroelectronics recommendations

4.1. For Arm^® Cortex^®-M4 execution context

The Arm^® Cortex^®-M4 accesses by default the internal SRAM for code and data.
In this context, the DMA transfers operate only between the peripheral and the internal SRAM.
This is why ST recommends to dedicate one DMA internal peripheral to Arm^® Cortex^®-M4.

4.2. For Arm^® Cortex^®-A7 secure execution context

The Arm^® Cortex^®-A7 secure firmware is located in SYSRAM (both code and data). As the internal peripherals and the SYSRAM associated to the Arm^® Cortex^®-A7 secure context are also secure, the MDMA must be used to support transfers between them because it is secure aware.

4.3. Arm^® Cortex^®-A7 nonsecure execution context

The Arm^® Cortex^®-A7 nonsecure firmware is mainly located in the external memory (DDR). In consequence, the DMA transfers operate between the peripherals and the DDR. Nevertheless, as the different internal peripherals do not have the same requirements in term of bandwidth, real time, and flow control, the user must use one of the three DMA configurations described in DMA configurations. To make the selection easier, the following table sums up the possible choices for each peripheral and highlights the recommended configuration. Note that this configuration is set by default in the device tree (dtsi).

Peripheral	no DMA mode	DMA mode	MDMA mode	DMA-MDMA chaining mode	Default mode
U(S)ART		Except instance 1	Only instance 1		no DMA mode
ADC					DMA-MDMA chaining mode
SPI			Only instance 6		DMA or MDMA mode depending on instance
SPDIFRx					DMA mode
SAI					DMA mode
I2C			Only instances 4 and 6		DMA or MDMA mode depending on instance
Timer					DMA-MDMA chaining mode
DFSDM					DMA mode
I2S					DMA mode
DCMI					DMA-MDMA chaining mode
FMC					MDMA mode
QUADSPI					MDMA mode
HASH					MDMA mode
CRYP					MDMA mode

5. STMicroelectronics reference boards default configuration

5.1. STM32MP135x-DK Discovery kit DMA configuration

The following table provides the list of the peripherals for which DMA is configured. Associated configurations are also described.

Peripheral	Request line	DMA mode
ADC1	rx	DMA-MDMA chaining mode
ADC2	rx	DMA-MDMA chaining mode
CRYP1	in	MDMA mode
	out
HASH1	in	MDMA mode
I2S2	rx	DMA mode
	tx
SAI2	a - tx	DMA mode
	b - rx
USART2	rx	DMA mode
	tx

5.2. STM32MP157x-EV1 Evaluation board DMA configuration

The following table provides the list of the peripherals for which DMA is configured. Associated configurations are also described.

Peripheral	Request line	DMA mode
CRYP1	in	MDMA mode
	out
DCMI	tx	DMA-MDMA chaining mode
DFSDM	channel 0 - rx	DMA mode
	channel 1 - rx
	channel 2 - rx
	channel 3 - rx
HASH1	in	MDMA mode
I2S2	rx	DMA mode
	tx
SAI2	a - tx	DMA mode
	b - rx
USART2	rx	DMA mode
	tx

5.3. STM32MP157x-DK2 Discovery kit DMA configuration

The following table provides the list of the peripherals for which DMA is configured. Associated configurations are also described.

Peripheral	Request line	DMA mode
CRYP1	in	MDMA mode
	out
HASH1	in	MDMA mode
I2S2	rx	DMA mode
	tx
SAI2	a - tx	DMA mode
	b - rx
USART2	rx	DMA mode
	tx

Direct memory access

Microprocessor unit

Doubledata rate (memory domain)

Random access memory (Early computer memories generally hadserial access. Memories where any given address can be accessed when desired were then called "random access" to distinguish them from the memories where contents can only be accessed in a fixed order. The term is used today for volatile random-acces ssemiconductor memories.)

Arm^® is a registered trademark of Arm Limited (or its subsidiaries) in the US and/or elsewhere.

Cortex^®

Digital Camera memory interface

Digital filter for sigma-delta modulator

Direct memory access

Microprocessor unit

Doubledata rate (memory domain)

Random access memory (Early computer memories generally hadserial access. Memories where any given address can be accessed when desired were then called "random access" to distinguish them from the memories where contents can only be accessed in a fixed order. The term is used today for volatile random-acces ssemiconductor memories.)

Arm^® is a registered trademark of Arm Limited (or its subsidiaries) in the US and/or elsewhere.

Cortex^®

Digital Camera memory interface

Digital filter for sigma-delta modulator