A procedure for obtaining a behavioral description for the control logic of a non-linear pipeline

Much attention has been directed to different aspects of the design of pipelines (P. Grun et al., 1999; N. Park et al., 1988; D.A. Lobo et al., 1992; K.N. McNallm et al., 1991). Design of the control logic of nonlinear pipelines has however, been considered as a subsidiary issue in that an RTL description for such logic can easily be obtained from a behavioral description, with the use of widely available synthesis tools. But, as the complexity of a nonlinear pipeline increases, so does the complexity of the control logic. The complexity may be to an extent that obtaining even a behavioral description for the control logic is rendered difficult. We focus on further automating the development of systems consisting of nonlinear or multifunction pipelines by proposing an algorithmic technique for obtaining a behavioral description for the control logic of such pipelines. A simplified C++ implementation that produces a VHDL description of the control logic is then presented to clarify the algorithm. Experimental results that reveal connections between the nature of pipeline functions and the complexity of the control logic, obtained by utilization of the algorithm, are also presented. Consideration of these results can reduce the design space exploration of such pipelines to a more practically feasible subspace.