Timers, Clocks & I/O

GPIO Controller

Parity- and read-back-protected APB4 GPIO bank — ASIL-B diagnosed discrete I/O, drop-in foundry pad control.

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ASIL-B

target

92.40%

SPFM

99.00%

LFM

PASS

FMEDA

981

gates

1.10.0

version

Interfaces at a glance

Block diagram

Place-and-route snapshot

Physical implementation

GPIO Controller routed place-and-route layout on the Nangate45 PDK — A real synthesis and place-and-route pass on this RTL, routed on the open Nangate45 / FreePDK45 PDK — evidence the block closes physically, not just in simulation. Target-PDK timing, area, and power sign-off figures are shared under NDA.

The deliverable

What you’re licensing

Parity- and read-back-protected APB4 GPIO bank — ASIL-B diagnosed discrete I/O, drop-in foundry pad control. It is delivered as a licensable soft-IP block engineered as an ASIL-B Safety Element out of Context — not just RTL, but the complete functional-safety work package needed to carry it into an ISO 26262 program:

Synthesizable RTL

Portable, vendor-neutral SystemVerilog that drops onto your existing SoC fabric — no foundry or EDA-tool lock-in.

Per-IP FMEDA report

SPFM / LFM / PMHF computed against the ASIL target per ISO 26262-5 — the quantitative analysis your assessor asks for.

Safety manual

Assumptions of use, the safety mechanisms and their diagnostic coverage — written to drop straight into your safety case.

IP-XACT + integration docs

A machine-readable descriptor plus register and integration documentation for fast, low-risk bring-up.

Self-checking testbench

A self-checking testbench and a one-command build, so you can reproduce every claim on day one.

What it is

A parameterizable GPIO peripheral delivered as synthesizable SystemVerilog soft-IP.

Key Features

Per-bit DIR/DOUT/DIN with atomic DSET/DCLR/DTGL (write-1-set/clear/toggle) — no read-modify-write races on the output register
Edge (rising/falling/both, IBE) and level (active-high/low, IEVE/ITYPE) interrupts per pin, maskable via IER, OR’d into a single gpio_irq
Foundry programmable-pad control selects — PADPU, PADPD, PADDS (DS_W bits/pin), PADST (Schmitt/hysteresis), PADSL (slew), PADIE (input buffer, resets all-on) — drop-in for a TSMC PDDWUWSWEWCDGS/PRWDWUW-class pad
Per-pin output read-back diagnostic (RBEN, err_code 9): compares gpio_o/gpio_oe against the pad-looped-back gpio_i, 2-FF synchronized and 2-cycle persistence-filtered against switching noise
Even-parity protection on all eight function-affecting config registers (err_code 1), recomputed atomically on every write including DSET/DCLR/DTGL
Open-drain mode (ODE) drives low only and releases on a written 1, for shared bus lines such as an SMBus alert

Standards & Compliance

Generic ISO 26262 ASIL-B SEooC GPIO pattern

Functional Safety

ASIL-B (SEooC) · SPFM 92.40% · LFM 99.00% · PASS

ISO 26262:2018 · FMEDA available · Safety Manual included

Register Map

Offset	Register	Description
`0x00`	DIR	1=output, 0=input 0x20 DSET W1S: dout \|= wdata (atomic set)
`0x04`	DOUT	output data 0x24 DCLR W1C: dout &= ~wdata (atomic clear)
`0x08`	DIN	RO: synchronized input 0x28 DTGL W1T: dout ^= wdata (atomic toggle)
`0x0C`	IER	interrupt enable 0x2C ODE 1=open-drain, 0=push-pull
`0x10`	ISR	interrupt status (w1c) 0x30 PADPU 1=pull-up enable (pad select)

…4 more registers — see datasheet for the full table.

Getting Started

// Minimal instantiation
gpio #(
 .ADDR_W(6)
) u_gpio (
 .clk (clk),
 .rst_n (rst_n),
 // APB4
 .p_paddr (paddr),
 .p_psel (psel),
 .p_penable (penable),
 .p_pwrite (pwrite),
 .p_pwdata (pwdata),
 .p_prdata (prdata),
 .p_pready (pready),
 // Safety
 .err_clear (1'b0),
 .err_valid (err_valid),
 .err_code (err_code)
);

Configure via the CTRL register after reset to enable the IP and set operating parameters. Monitor err_valid / err_code for any safety faults reported by the built-in safety monitor.

Applications

Where it fits

Typically deployed in the housekeeping layer every SoC needs — timing, watchdogs, reset, and I/O.

The case

Why license it, not build it

Skip 12–18 months

The FMEDA and the safety case are already generated. You integrate a finished safety element — you don’t stand up a safety-IP program to originate one.

One vendor, one safety story

Every block in the catalog shares the same safety architecture, fault-reaction model, and FMEDA methodology — so subsystems roll up cleanly.

Verified, not vapor

The RTL builds and passes today; the safety metrics come from analysis and fault injection against real RTL, not a datasheet promise.

Interested in GPIO Controller?

Pricing, the per-IP FMEDA, safety manual, and RTL data room are shared under a mutual NDA.

Talk to us →See related IP

Figures are pre-silicon engineering-grade estimates for a Safety Element out of Context (SEooC); final ASIL sign-off is the integrator’s, supported under NDA. FMEDA and Safety Manual available under NDA.

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