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AAiT

Lecture 01

Introduction to
Microcomputers

ECEg - 4501 Daniel D. DECE


In this Lecture: AAiT

Understanding the Language


A microcomputer system
Evolution of the Microcomputer

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Definitions - basic
AAiT

Cycle
-Period of the CPU clock
-The fundamental unit of time for CPU activity
Instruction
A meaningful command to be executed by the CPU along with
the data operands.
Register
The fastest temporary data storage in the memory hierarchy

ALU
A digital logic circuit to process logic and arithmetic

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Definitions - basic
AAiT

Memory
-One of the two basic elements of a computer system
(paging, virtual and physical memory, MMU)
Memory hierarchy
Register Cache(levels)RAMDisks
Cache
-fast static memory to hold most frequently used data/instruction
-Multiple levels of cache
- Cache coherency
- Cache flushing
- Cache replacement
- Hit ratio

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Definitions - arch
AAiT

CISC
-Complex instructions, Simpler compiler, complex and large
hardware

RISC
-Few and simple instructions, complex compilers, small and
simple hardware

Pipeline
- A structure just like a product assembly line
- Process the next task while the current one is in progress

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Definitions - Arch
AAiT

Scalar Vs Superscalar
Executing multiple instruction in a single cycle using a single
CPU by Utilizing computing resources effectively
(SIMD, MIMD, )
In-Order Vs Out-of-order
Instructions can be executed in order sequentially or out of
order depending on the availability of data.
Issue
A term used to describe as to how the instruction execution
should flow determining branch targets
Branch prediction
Dual-issue
Speculative-issue,
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Definitions - Hardware
AAiT

Process
Determines the kind of layout used to implement the digital
logic cells. (CMOS, HMOS, LP-CMOS, DMS, )

Process tech/feature size


Usually determined by the gate length of the transistors
(65nm CMOS high K Cu process, 45nm LP-CMOS, )

Bonding
Metal interconnection inside the chip

Packaging
How the chip is delivered

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Definitions - Systems
AAiT

Microprocessor,

Microcontroller,

System on Chip,

DSP and

ASIC
What is the difference anyway??

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Definitions - Systems
AAiT

Microcontroller
 Small General purpose control
 A computer on a single chip
 On-chip memory, I/O ports, controllers,
 Easy to work with
 Low power consumption
 Very Low cost
 Usually low speed
 Limited memory size

Top vendors: Microchip, Atmel, TI, Philips (NXP),


Motorola(Freescale), Samsung,
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Definitions - Systems
AAiT

Microprocessor
 General purpose intensive computation
 Unlimited memory size
 highest power consumption
 higher cost
 Usually contains only CPU, control & cache on chip
 requires lot of external hardware
(e.g. 8086, Pentium, Core i7, MIPS, ARM Cortex, )

Top vendors: Intel, AMD,for PCs & Workstations


ARM licenseesfor mobile platforms

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Definitions - Systems
AAiT

Digital Signal Processor (DSP)


 Real time signal processing (e.g. speech recognition)
 dynamic system control (e.g. motion control)
 Complex and fast on chip HW (e.g. video accelerator)
 Enhanced DSP functions (like, FFT, DCT)
 Minimum external components required
 higher power consumption than C
 highest cost
(e.g. TMS, DaVinci DMSoC, Blackfin, Coldfire,)
Top vendors: TI, Motorola, Analog Devices, Freescale

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Definitions - Systems
AAiT

Application Specific IC (ASIC)


 Made for one special purpose (e.g. graphics engine)
 used with other systems (with P, C or DSP)
 Cant be used for other application
Systems On Chip (SoC)
 Everything on one chip (usually P + DSP + ASIC)

E.g. Texas Instruments Integra SoC


 One ARM cortex superscalar P @1.5GHz
 One 3D 30MPoly/sec graphic accelerator
 One TMSC64x+ DSP for multimedia @1GHz
all in one 12mm x 12mm 1013 BGA chip package!!
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A Computer System
AAiT

Input Process Output

Applications
Middleware/Frameworks
Operating System
Firmware/Drivers
Hardware

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Evolution of the P
AAiT

 1958 The first integrated circuit, in Texas USA


(Jack kilby of TI, and John Noyce from Fairchild)
 1965 Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel  Moores Law
(The No of transistors in an IC doubles every two years)
 Intel 4004 the first P
1971, 4-bit
 Intel 8008
1972, 8-bit
Originally designed for Datapoint Corp. as a CRT display controller
 Intel 8080
 1974, April - Altair 8800, 1975, MITS (256 bytes of mem, $395)
 Apple II -- Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak 1976, Apple inc.
 Bill Gates and Allen Paul: BASIC, 1975 --> Microsoft corp.

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Evolution of the P
AAiT

 Intel 8086/8088
 1978, 16 bit: 8088, 1979, 8-bit external bus
 IBM PC; 1981
 29,000 Trs.

 Intel 80286
 1982, 16-bit architecture
 24-bit addressing, memory protection and virtual memory
 16 MB of physical MEM and 1 GB of virtual mem
 130,000 Trs. onto a single chip
 IBM PC/AT in 1984, IBM PS/2 Model 50 and 60

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History of Intels Pcntd AAiT

 Intel 80386
 1985, 32 bits
 3-5 MIPS (7 MIPS on the 25 MHz chip)
 memory paging and enhanced I/O permission features
 4GB programming model
 Intel 80486
1,200,000 Trs.
386+387+8K data and instruction cache, paging and MMU

 Intel Pentium III
1999; MMX + Internet Streaming SIMD Instructions
0.25 micron, 9.5 million Trs., 600 MHz, Superscalar arch.
32 K(16K/16K) non-blocking level 1 cache

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History of Intels Pcntd
AAiT

 Intel Core i7
March 2008, Nehalem micro-architecture, 3.066GHZ
45nm CMOS process, 731 million trs., up to 8cores/chip
Integrated Memory, graphics and direct media interface controller
Simultaneous hyper-treading, turbo-boost technology,
32K instruction & 32K L1 data cache/core, 256K L2 cache/core
8MB L3 cache,
Speculative-issue, out-of-order, superscalar microprocessor

(More on www.intel.com/products/processors/corei7)

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ARM History - ARM Ltd AAiT

 Founded in November 1990


o Spun out of Acorn Computers

 Designs the ARM range of RISC processor cores

 Licenses ARM core designs to semiconductor partners who


fabricate and sell to their customers
o ARM does not fabricate silicon itself

 Also develop technologies to assist with the design-in of the ARM


architecture
o Software tools, boards, debug hardware, application software,
bus architectures, peripherals etc

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ARM History 1985-1995
AAiT

 1985
 Acorn Computer Group develops the world's rst commercial RISC processor
 1987
 Acorn's ARM processor debuts as the rst RISC processor for low-cost PCs
 1990
 Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) spins out of Acorn and Apple Computer's
collaboration efforts with a charter to create a new microprocessor standard.
VLSI Technology becomes an investor and the first licensee
 1993
 ARM introduces the ARM7 core
 1994
 Samsung license ARM technology
 1995
 ARM's Thumb architecture extension gives 32-bit RISC performance at 16-bit
system cost and offers industry-leading code density
 ARM extends family with ARM8 high-performance solution
 ARM launches the ARM7100 "PDA-on-a-chip

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ARM History 1996-2002
AAiT

 1997
 ARM and MicrosoE work together to extend Windows CE to the ARM architecture

 1998
 ARM Partners ship more than 50 million ARM Powered products
 Intel licensees the ARM X-Scale Architecture

 2000
 ARM introduces Jazelle technology for Java applications
 ARM introduces the ARM926EJ-S soft macrocell with enhanced DSP

 2002
 ARM introduces the SecurCore SC200 and SC210 microprocessor cores

 2003
 ARM partners ships more than 1 billion ARM powered devices!

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ARM History Present
AAiT
ARM Cortex

 Cortex A8
 in-order, dual-issue, Superscalar, 13 stage pipeline
 32k/32k instruction/data L1 cache, 256K unified L2 cache
 Neon SIMD Multimedia engine, Vector floating point coprocessor
 Jazzele Java technology
 600MHz 1.2GHz speed, 2.0 instruction/cycle
(Apple A4, Samsung Hamming Bird, TI OMAP3, Motorola Dragon Ball, etc.)

 Cortex A9 and Cortex A15


Out-of-order, predictive-issue, superscalar, 15 stage pipeline
 32k/32k instruction/data L1 cache, up to 4MB unified L2 cache
 Multi-core Architecture (duo and Quad)
 Neon SIMD Multimedia engine, Vector floating point coprocessor
 Jazzele Java technology
1 -2GHz speed, up to 4 instruction/cycle
(Apple A5, Samsung Sirtex, TI OMAP4, Freescale iMX6, etc.)

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Compare/contrast
AAiT

We can classify Ps based on


o Architecture
o Application type
o Performance (in terms of speed, power consumption...)

In modern Ps, the best features from the different types
is taken to achieve the maximum performance.

Based on Architecture/instruction set, the major


categories are RISC and CISC.

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Compare/contrastRISC Vs CISC
AAiT

CISC

 When the 8086 was introduced


Memory expensive; Compilers lousy; VLSI primitive

 Keeping the encodings of common instructions short


helped in two ways.
It made programs shorter, saving precious memory space.
Shorter instructions can also be fetched faster.
Assembly programming is easier
The 8086-based processors are an example of a complex
instruction set computer, or CISC, architecture.

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RISC Vs CISCcntd
AAiT

RISC

The idea of simpler instruction formats seemed radical in the 1980s.


RISC-based programs needed more instructions and were harder
to write by hand than CISC-based ones.
This also meant that RISC programs used more memory.

 Many newer processor designs use RISC architecture


Memory is faster and cheaper now.
Compilers generate code instead of assembly programmers.
Simpler hardware made advanced implementation techniques like
pipelining easier and more practical.

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Compare/contrastperformance
AAiT

The processing speed is directly proportional to the system


clock frequency, the frequency is limited by the voltage
level and dissipated heat.

 Newer processor designs claim higher frequencies at lower


voltage thresholds using new production processes:
->Low power and high speed

 Performance of a P also depends on the No. of cores in the


chip and intelligent HW/SW like, parallelism, pipelining,
on-chip caches, PMU,

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AAiT

Technology Trends and prospects

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Trends - Hardware
AAiT

Moores law has expired


The number of transistors on a chip cannot be doubled every
two years

Switching frequency has hit the limit


For a Silicon based system, it doesnt seem possible to clock
faster anymore

A quest for new materials


- New material research is one of the hot issues around the globe
- Carbon as a new playground
- Molecular computing and Cellular automata

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Trends - Architecture
AAiT

Parallelism and redundancy


Build as many as possible similar units and Keep the system as
busy as possible

Computing in hardware
Dedicate a HW unit for a certain frequent function

Layered Architecture
- Keep system functions in a hierarchy
- Precedence dependency and order
- Stochastic execution paradigm

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Trends - Computing
AAiT

Heterogeneous Computing
Mixed platforms mixed algorithm  mixed solution

Learning and adaptation


- From hard-computing to intelligent computing
(mimicking biological systems)
- Programs that write programs

High performance Computing (HPC)


- Real-life simulations and analysis
- Cloud Computing
- Computing without computers - the end of the PC

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Next Lecture: AAiT

 8086 Architecture Overview

ECEg - 4501

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