Modular Approach to Multi-resource Arbiter Design

When circuits need to be constructed out of several self timed parts that access shared resources, asynchronous arbitration is often required. We consider the creation of the general purpose arbiter delegating M resources to N clients for the cases when the resources can be either active or passive participants of the arbitration. Firstly, the problem is solved for the case of two active resources being offered to two clients. Then a general problem solution is provided. Finally, on the basis of the 2times2 arbiter designed, it is shown how it can be used to create a scalable multi-resource arbiter for passive resources.