
14
APPLICATION NOTE #108
Released 9/98
BLOCK TRANSFER LOGIC / DMA TRANSFER TIMES
All reads and writes to the BTL are identical to read / write to the main RAM. The address 
locations are the same. The only difference is that the BTL circuitry will intercept those read 
/ writes and store them in the buffer instead. The user accesses the same locations as if they 
would if they were directly accessing the main RAM.
The block transfer logic may also be configured by writing to certain address locations 
providing NENBTL is selected, ie.
0 1 00 02       402h
0 1 00 03       403h
0 1 00 04       404h
0 1 00 05       405h
Disable Read
Disable Read
Enable  Read
Enable  Read
Disable Write
Enable  Write
Disable Write
Enable  Write
Reset will enable both Write and Read.
WRITE
The Write BTL Logic basically stores all writes to a particular subaddress in the buffer until 
the subsystem has completed the entire subaddress update. When the subsystem has 
finished, the BTL will generate a burst DMA from the BTL to main RAM in one contiguous 
transfer. This guarantees that the entire subaddress is updated. Until the DMA transfer the 
BTL buffer allows the main RAM to be free for updates from the 1553 data bus.
The user must write data to the device in a specific sequence starting with the first word for 
transmission in the n-1 location and ending with the last word for transmission in location 00 
of the subaddress. The BTL will sense the write to location 00 and initiate the DMA 
sequence.
1. Data for one message is written to the 32 word buffer memory at any speed by the 
subsystem. The first word for transmission is written first to the n-1 location and the last 
word for transmission is written last to the 00 location of the subaddress.
2. The address of the first word is stored in a register / counter within the "block transfer 
logic".
3. The last word for transmission is always written to location zero, this will trigger the 
transfer of data from the 32 word buffer memory  to the main memory. Data is transferred 
at the rate of 250 nS per word. A full 32 word transfer will take approximately 8 uS.  
4. If the 1553 is quiet the entire message will immediately be transferred in a single burst to 
the main memory, the address being generated by the counter within the block transfer 
logic. During this transfer the subsystem will be locked out via NACK from any new 
updates.
5. If the 1553 DMA transfer to the main RAM becomes active during the burst transfer, the 
transfer will complete and then be locked out of any new updates until the 1553 is 
complete. However the BTL buffer memory will be accessible to the subsystem at this 
time.
6. If the 1553 DMA transfer to the main RAM becomes active before the start of the burst 
transfer, the transfer will be locked out (after location zero is written to) until the 1553 is 
complete. The sub system will be locked out during this time (main ram being accessed