The reference design suite in this application note contains three dual-core architectures.

　　1. Dual MicroBlaze Design

　　2. Dual PowerPC Design

　　3. A PowerPC-MicroBlaze dual processor design

　　All three designs illustrate two fully functional processor systems interacting with each other via

　　communication channels. Special cores are supplied as a part of the reference design

　　package. These cores provide simple synchronization and message passing features for use

　　between the two processors. These cores are：

　　1. OPB_Mutex

　　The OPB Mutex core helps achieve synchronization between multiple processors when

　　accessing shared resources. The core has a configurable number of mutexes and has a

　　write to lock scheme. More information about the core is present in the Mutex datasheet is

　　available by right clicking on the Mutex core in the Platform Studio IDE. The software

　　interface is provided by the mutex_v1_00_a driver which is also provided with the reference

　　design.

　　2. OPB_Mailbox

　　The OPB Mailbox core helps a processor pass simple messages to another processor in a

　　FIFO fashion. The Mailbox is suited for small to medium sized messages （《 a few 100

　　bytes）。 The mailbox also offers an interrupt line which indicates the presence of data in the

　　mailbox. More information about the core is present in the Mailbox data sheet which is

　　available by right clicking on the Mailbox core in the Platform Studio IDE. The software

　　interface is provided by the mbox_v1_00_a driver which is also provided with the reference

　　design.