AMULET1: an asynchronous ARM microprocessor

Author

Woods, J.V. ; Day, P. ; Furber, S.B. ; Garside, J.D. ; Paver, N.C. ; Temple, S.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci., Oxford Univ., UK

Volume

46

Issue

4

fYear

1997

fDate

4/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

385

Lastpage

398

Abstract

An asynchronous implementation of the ARM microprocessor has been developed using an approach based on Sutherland´s Micropipelines. The design allows considerable internal asynchronous concurrency. This paper presents the rationale for the work, the organization of the chip, and the characteristics of the prototype silicon. The design displays unusual properties such as nondeterministic (but bounded) prefetch depth beyond a branch instruction, a data dependent throughput, and employs a novel register locking mechanism. This work demonstrates the feasibility of building complex asynchronous systems and gives an indication of the costs and benefits of the Micropipeline approach

Keywords

computer architecture; microprocessor chips; microprogramming; AMULET1; asynchronous ARM microprocessor; asynchronous implementation; branch instruction; data dependent throughput; prefetch depth; prototype silicon; register locking mechanism; Buildings; Concurrent computing; Displays; Mechanical factors; Microprocessors; Prefetching; Prototypes; Registers; Silicon; Throughput;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Computers, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9340

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/12.588033

Filename

588033