Like algorithms are to software engineers, protocols are to hardware/VLSI engineers. Just as software engineers use C/C++ to implement algorithms, VLSI engineers use Verilog, SystemVerilog (SV), and UVM to implement components based on standard protocols.

A standard protocol is a set of rules that define how communication occurs between a master and a slave or between components in a system. These can be broadly classified into:

• On-chip communication protocols
• Peripheral communication protocols

Despite the vast number of protocols, many share common foundational concepts. For on-chip protocols, these include handshaking, request-data-response phases, and response types. Peripheral communication protocols often use common ideas like:

• OSI layering
• Packet framing
• Link management
• Flow control management
• PHY layer
• Clock extraction
• Serial-parallel data conversion
• Preamble and CRC

Therefore, learning just one solid protocol from each category (on-chip and peripheral) builds a strong foundation to understand others easily.

Examples: