MIPI UniPro for PCIe Veterans

The MIPI Unified Protocol (UniPro) specification defines a layered protocol for interconnecting devices and components within mobile device systems. It is applicable to a wide range of component types including application processors, co-processors, and modems. MIPI UniPro powers the JEDEC UFS, MIPI DSI2 and MIPI CSI3 applications. As of now, MIPI UniPro has been adopted the most in the mobile storage segment through JEDEC UFS. Adoption of MIPI UniPro and MIPI M-PHY provides lower power and higher performance solutions.

You can learn more about our VC VIP for Unipro, M-PHY, PCIe and JEDEC UFS here.

Many PCIe veterans may already have begun implementing MIPI UniPro in their designs. This blog post takes you through a quick view of the MIPI UniPro and MIPI M-PHY stack from a PCIe perspective. As you will notice, there are many similarities.

Architecture

PCI Express provides switch based point-to-point connection for connecting chips. MIPI UniPro also does the same. The current UniPro 1.6 specification does not support the switch though. It’s planned for future revisions. Toshiba has already released detailed technical documentation of UniPro bridge and switch for supporting the Google Ara. Both are packet switched high-speed serial protocols.

MIPI UniPro

PCI Express

Transport Layer

PCI Express maintains backward compatibility and uses the load and store model of the PC world. Configuration, Memory, IO and message address space access are supported at the transaction level. MIPI UniPro, on the other hand, is brand new and hence, does not have to carry the burden of ensuring backward compatibility. UniPro provides a raw communication of data in the form of messages. There is no structure to messages.

Both PCI express and UniPro support the concept of multiple logical data streams at the transport level. PCI express supports the concept of Traffic class (TCs) and Virtual Channels (VCs). A maximum of 8 TCs are supported. TCs can be mapped to different Virtual Channels (VCs). This concept of TCs and VCs is targeted towards providing deterministic bandwidth and latency.

UniPro also has a similar concept. PCI Express Traffic class (TC) is equivalent to a MIPI UniPro Cport and the PCI Express Virtual Channel(VC) is equivalent to a UniPro Traffic Class(TC). (Yes you noticed the use of TC terminology right. Both use same term but meanings are different) CPorts are bidirectional logical channels. Each CPort has a set of properties, which characterize the service provided. Multiple CPorts can be mapped to a single TC. UniPro 1.6 supports two TCs – TC0 and TC1. TC1 has higher priority than TC0. Additionally the UniPro provides End-to-End (E2E) Flow control at transport level. Note that UniPro E2E flow control is meant for application level buffer management and not for the transport layer buffers. While PCI Express implements the flow control at transport level as well.

PCI Express transport layer implements the end to end CRC (ECRC) and data poisoning. PCI Express has higher sensitivity to error detection at transport layer than the MIPI UniPro 1.6. This along with Advanced error reporting (AER) is what differentiates the PCI express to be used in the Server space where high reliability, accessibility and serviceability are valued.

Network Layer

PCI Express does not have a separate network layer. MIPI UniPro has a very simple pass through network layer in Version 1.6.

Data Link Layer

PCI Express data link layer is almost similar to that of the MIPI UniPro. Both solve the same problem of providing a means of robust link communication to the next immediate hop. They use similar error recovery mechanisms such as CRC protection, retransmission using NAC acknowledgement, multiple outstanding unacknowledged packets tracked using sequence numbers and flow control using the credits. While PCI Express credits are managed for Posted, Non posted and completion headers along with data, the UniPro flow control is per Traffic class(TC). In UniPro, both the credits and sequence numbers are independently managed per traffic class.

MIPI UniPro additionally supports the concept of pre-emption where in a high priority frame can pre-empt a low priority frame. This enables UniPro to provide even higher levels of latency determinism than PCI Express.

PCI Express data link layer supports low-level power management that is controlled by the hardware. The link power states are L0, L0s, L1, L2 and L3. L0 is full-on state and L3 is Link-off state. UniPro pushes it to the Physical adapter layer.

Physical Layer

PCI Express uses differential signaling and embedded clock. It can support multiple lanes up to 32 lanes. Reset and Initialization mechanisms enable determination of Link Speed, Link width and Lane mapping. Uses the 8B10B and 128/130 bit encoding, scrambling and deskew patterns aiding the clock recovery.

UniPro has gone one step ahead and partitioned the functionality further here. The UniPro Physical layer is divided into two sub layers Physical Adapter layer (L1.5) and Physical layer (L1). MIPI has multiple physical layer specifications. They are D-PHY and the more recent M-PHY. UniPro 1.6 will only be used with the M-PHY, though. The real role of L1.5 is to abstract the higher layer from the physical layer technology. UniPro is designed to use up to 4 M-PHY lanes. Reset and initialization mechanisms are used to determine the capabilities, similar to PCI Express.

MIPI UniPro supports higher power optimization. It is done by dividing Speed into two categories: High speed and Low speed. These are further sub-divided in to Gears. Dynamically, the speed and number of lanes can be scaled based on the bandwidth requirements. This process of changing the speed is called a power mode change. The application software initiates power mode changes. When the link is not under use it can be put in to hibernate state resulting in the highest power savings. The Physical adapter layer can also autonomously save power by ending the active data burst and entering sleep or stall states.

M-PHY also uses differential signaling and embedded clock in one of its modes of operation. 8B10B, 128/130 bit encoding, scrambling and deskew patterns are used to aid the clock recovery in high speed mode of operation.

Conclusion

We were awed by the similarities. No wonder there are initiatives like Mobile PCI Express(M-PCIe) — allowing the PCI Express to operate over M-PHY makes sense.

Similar comparisons can be made between MIPI UniPro and the Super Speed USB 3.0. Hence we are beginning to see initiatives being taken to enable the Super speed Inter-chip (SSIC ) with M-PHY.

It will be interesting to see how these will evolve, and which one of these will emerge victorious. While we wait for the UniPro vs. M-PCIE battle to settle down, one thing is clear: M-PHY has proved itself as a clear winner.

Authored by Anand Shirahatti