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C-slowing
C-slow retiming is a technique used in conjunction with retiming to improve throughput of a digital circuit. Each register in a circuit is replaced by a set of ''C'' registers (in series). This creates a circuit with ''C'' independent threads, as if the new circuit contained ''C'' copies of the original circuit. A single computation of the original circuit takes ''C'' times as many clock cycles to compute in the new circuit. C-slowing by itself increases latency, but throughput remains the same. Increasing the number of registers allows optimization of the circuit through retiming to reduce the clock period of the circuit. In the best case, the clock period can be reduced by a factor of ''C''. Reducing the clock period of the circuit reduces latency and increases throughput. Thus, for computations that can be multi-threaded, combining C-slowing with retiming can increase the throughput of the circuit, with little, or in the best case, no increase in latency. Since registers are r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barrel Processor
A barrel processor is a CPU that switches between threads of execution on every cycle. This CPU design technique is also known as "interleaved" or "fine-grained" temporal multithreading. Unlike simultaneous multithreading in modern superscalar architectures, it generally does not allow execution of multiple instructions in one cycle. Like preemptive multitasking, each thread of execution is assigned its own program counter and other hardware registers (each thread's architectural state). A barrel processor can guarantee that each thread will execute one instruction every ''n'' cycles, unlike a preemptive multitasking machine, that typically runs one thread of execution for tens of millions of cycles, while all other threads wait their turn. A technique called C-slowing can automatically generate a corresponding barrel processor design from a single-tasking processor design. An ''n''-way barrel processor generated this way acts much like ''n'' separate multiprocessing copies of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Throughput
Network throughput (or just throughput, when in context) refers to the rate of message delivery over a communication channel, such as Ethernet or packet radio, in a communication network. The data that these messages contain may be delivered over physical or logical links, or through network nodes. Throughput is usually measured in bits per second (bit/s or bps), and sometimes in data packets per second (p/s or pps) or data packets per time slot. The system throughput or aggregate throughput is the sum of the data rates that are delivered to all terminals in a network. Throughput is essentially synonymous to digital bandwidth consumption; it can be determined numerically by applying the queueing theory, where the load in packets per time unit is denoted as the arrival rate (), and the drop in packets per unit time is denoted as the departure rate (). The throughput of a communication system may be affected by various factors, including the limitations of the underlying anal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digital Circuit
In theoretical computer science, a circuit is a model of computation in which input values proceed through a sequence of gates, each of which computes a function. Circuits of this kind provide a generalization of Boolean circuits and a mathematical model for digital logic circuits. Circuits are defined by the gates they contain and the values the gates can produce. For example, the values in a Boolean circuit are boolean values, and the circuit includes conjunction, disjunction, and negation gates. The values in an integer circuit are sets of integers and the gates compute set union, set intersection, and set complement, as well as the arithmetic operations addition and multiplication. Formal definition A circuit is a triple (M, L, G), where * M is a set of values, * L is a set of gate labels, each of which is a function from M^ to M for some non-negative integer i (where i represents the number of inputs to the gate), and * G is a labelled directed acyclic graph with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hardware Register
In digital electronics, especially computing, hardware registers are circuits typically composed of flip flops, often with many characteristics similar to memory, such as: * The ability to read or write multiple bits at a time, and * Using an address to select a particular register in a manner similar to a memory address. Their distinguishing characteristic, however, is that they also have special hardware-related functions beyond those of ordinary memory. So, depending on the point of view, hardware registers are like memory with additional hardware-related functions; or, memory circuits are like hardware registers that just store data. Hardware registers are used in the interface between software and peripherals. Software writes them to send information to the device, and reads them to get information from the device. Some hardware devices also include registers that are not visible to software, for their internal use. Depending on their complexity, modern hardware devices ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clock Cycle
In electronics and especially synchronous digital circuits, a clock signal (historically also known as ''logic beat'') oscillates between a high and a low state and is used like a metronome to coordinate actions of digital circuits. A clock signal is produced by a clock generator. Although more complex arrangements are used, the most common clock signal is in the form of a square wave with a 50% duty cycle, usually with a fixed, constant frequency. Circuits using the clock signal for synchronization may become active at either the rising edge, falling edge, or, in the case of double data rate, both in the rising and in the falling edges of the clock cycle. Digital circuits Most integrated circuits (ICs) of sufficient complexity use a clock signal in order to synchronize different parts of the circuit, cycling at a rate slower than the worst-case internal propagation delays. In some cases, more than one clock cycle is required to perform a predictable action. As ICs become more ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latency (engineering)
Latency, from a general point of view, is a time delay between the cause and the effect of some physical change in the system being observed. Lag, as it is known in gaming circles, refers to the latency between the input to a simulation and the visual or auditory response, often occurring because of network delay in online games. Latency is physically a consequence of the limited velocity at which any physical interaction can propagate. The magnitude of this velocity is always less than or equal to the speed of light. Therefore, every physical system with any physical separation (distance) between cause and effect will experience some sort of latency, regardless of the nature of the stimulation at which it has been exposed to. The precise definition of latency depends on the system being observed or the nature of the simulation. In communications, the lower limit of latency is determined by the medium being used to transfer information. In reliable two-way communication ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retiming
Retiming is the technique of moving the structural location of latches or registers in a digital circuit to improve its performance, area, and/or power characteristics in such a way that preserves its functional behavior at its outputs. Retiming was first described by Charles E. Leiserson and James B. Saxe in 1983. The technique uses a directed graph where the vertices represent asynchronous combinational blocks and the directed edges represent a series of registers or latches (the number of registers or latches can be zero). Each vertex has a value corresponding to the delay through the combinational circuit it represents. After doing this, one can attempt to optimize the circuit by pushing registers from output to input and vice versa - much like bubble pushing. Two operations can be used - deleting a register from each input of a vertex while adding a register to all outputs, and conversely adding a register to each input of vertex and deleting a register from all outputs. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Field-programmable Gate Array
A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturinghence the term '' field-programmable''. The FPGA configuration is generally specified using a hardware description language (HDL), similar to that used for an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Circuit diagrams were previously used to specify the configuration, but this is increasingly rare due to the advent of electronic design automation tools. FPGAs contain an array of programmable logic blocks, and a hierarchy of reconfigurable interconnects allowing blocks to be wired together. Logic blocks can be configured to perform complex combinational functions, or act as simple logic gates like AND and XOR. In most FPGAs, logic blocks also include memory elements, which may be simple flip-flops or more complete blocks of memory. Many FPGAs can be reprogrammed to implement different logic functions, allowing flexible reconfi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pipeline (computing)
In computing, a pipeline, also known as a data pipeline, is a set of data processing elements connected in series, where the output of one element is the input of the next one. The elements of a pipeline are often executed in parallel or in time-sliced fashion. Some amount of buffer storage is often inserted between elements. Computer-related pipelines include: * Instruction pipelines, such as the classic RISC pipeline, which are used in central processing units (CPUs) and other microprocessors to allow overlapping execution of multiple instructions with the same circuitry. The circuitry is usually divided up into stages and each stage processes a specific part of one instruction at a time, passing the partial results to the next stage. Examples of stages are instruction decode, arithmetic/logic and register fetch. They are related to the technologies of superscalar execution, operand forwarding, speculative execution and out-of-order execution. * Graphics pipelines, found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
