BCSL-013(QUESTION-5)

MICROPROCESSOR
I. INTRODUCTION

LOT has happened since the first transistor based CPUs where sold in the late 70s. This paper will give an
overview of the recent advances in microprocessor design.

Changing the Focus: More Cores Instead of More Transistors:-Microprocessor advancement

accelerated rapidly in 1968 when three engineers from Fairchild Semiconductor – Robert Noyce, Andy Grove
and Gordon Moore – founded Intel Corporation in Mountain View, California, to develop new technologies for
silicon-based chips. In 1971, Intel developers successfully embedded a central processing unit, memory, input
and output controls on the world's first single chip microprocessor, the Intel 4004 (U.S. Patent #3,821,715)
(“Inventors of the Modern Computer,” by Mary Bellis, About.com, undated). Moore was well known in the
industry for a 1965 article where he predicted the doubling of the number of transistors on microprocessors
(an approximate measure of processing power) every 18 to 24 months

Replacing the x86 Paradigm:- The conceptual framework of the Intel x86 or 80x86 microprocessor
architecture was first introduced by Intel in 1978, and has since followed an unwavering path of
advancement. Starting with an 8-bit instruction set, the x86 ISA grew to a 16- bit and then to a 32-bit
instruction set. These labels (8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit) designate the number of bits that each of the
microprocessor's general-purpose registers (GPRs) can hold. The term “32-bit processor” translates to “a
processor with GPRs that store 32-bit numbers.” Similarly, a “32-bit instruction” is an instruction that
operates on 32-bit numbers. A 32-bit address space allows the CPU to directly address 4 GB of data. Though 4
GB once seemed gargantuan, the size requirements of memory-intensive applications such as multimedia
programs or database query engines are often much higher. In response to this shortcoming, the 64-bit
microarchitecture has increased RAM addressability from 4 GB to a theoretical 18 million terabytes (1019
bytes). However, since the virtual address space of x86-64 is 48 bits and the physical address space is 40 bits,
in reality the yield is only an approximate 256 terabytes.

Advancing to Multi-Core Designs:- One path represents an embellishment of the traditional x86 design
– multiple cores packaged on one board running parallel threads on each. The other path – Intel Itanium –
represents one of those paradigm shiftsThe operating system treats each of its execution cores as a discrete
processor, with all associated execution resources. Page 8 Multi-core processors thus deliver higher
performance and greater efficiency without the heat problems and other disadvantages experienced by single
core processors run at higher frequencies to squeeze out more performance. By multiplying the number of
cores in the processor, it is possible to dramatically increase computing resources, higher multithreaded
throughput, and the benefits of parallel computing
Leveraging Software Tools for Optimal Performance:- Some microprocessor designs of the past
have been overly complex and have relied on out-of-order logic to reshuffle and optimize software
instructions. Going forward, designers will continue to deliver better and better software tools, higher
software optimization and better compilers. Among semiconductor companies, Intel provides one of the
strongest suites of software tools to support and enhance the performance of microprocessors such as the
Intel Itanium. This includes an 18-month roadmap that Intel shares with its major customers showing how its
software tools will advance and evolve over time. This enables Itanium developers to deliver higher
performance to their users and customers. Among the most important software tools from Intel are a family
of compilers optimized for each of its microprocessor platforms, including Xeon and Itanium.

Optimizing Microarchitecture through Parallelism:- As microprocessor technology continues to

advance with new architectures such as the Intel Itanium, efficiency and performance optimization become
even more critical. A new technique used to achieve this is multi-processing parallelism and a shift from
instruction level parallelism to thread level parallelism When Intel introduced Itanium in 2001, the company
made a commitment to a design that takes a quantum leap ahead of instruction level parallelism. Instruction
level parallelism is a process in which independent instructions (instructions not dependent on the outcome
of one another) execute concurrently to utilize more of the available resources of a processor core and
increase instruction throughput. The ability of the processor to work on more than one instruction at a time
improves the cycles per instruction and increases the frequency from previous architectures

Combining Performance with Security:- The dramatic performance advancements delivered by

Itanium make it possible for additional security features to be incorporated into applications, enabling
developers to avoid the trade-offs often made between performance and security. Itanium provides four
privilege levels that the operating system can leverage to provide a clean separation between what the user
can access versus what the virtual machine can access. More importantly, Itanium provides a protection key
scheme based on container logic. With the appropriate application support, a developer can
compartmentalize everything contained in vast memory stores, and, in effect, put a security wrapper around
each process.

Multi core and Parellel Programming:-Everyone wants more CPU performance, However the cost for
speeding up CPUs is increasing exponentially. In the last couple of years it has turned out that with today’s
production techniques in CPU fabs 4 GHZ is the highest clock rate that can be achieved in a cost effective way.
The solution for this problem is quite simple: Put more CPUs onto one chip. But before we take a closer look
on multi-core chips let’s review one of the technologies from the “pre-multi” area namely Simultaneous Multi
Threading or, like Intel likes to call their implementation, Hyper-Threading Technology.

Advancing to Multi-Core Designs In order to advance beyond current x86 capabilities without adding more
transistors, microprocessor designs are now headed down two paths. One path represents an embellishment
of the traditional x86 design – multiple cores packaged on one board running parallel threads on each. The
other path – Intel Itanium – represents one of those paradigm shifts described by Kuhn as a “revolution in
which one conceptual world view is replaced by another.” Conceptually, multi-core architecture refers to a
single processor package containing two or more processor “execution cores,” or computational engines that
deliver fully parallel execution of multiple software threads. The operating system treats each of its execution
cores as a discrete processor, with all associated execution resources.Further

Advancing the Microprocessor: 2015 and Beyond

Considering the dramatic progress made in microprocessor design and architecture since 1965, it’s risky to
project what new technologies could become available in ten to fifteen years. And yet, a group of future-
minded researchers are expressing optimism about the potential of tiny nano electronic components, organic
molecules, carbon nanotubes and individual electrons that could serve as the underlying technology for new
generation of microprocessors emerging around 2015.

(ii) Search “microprocessor”

“an integrated circuit that contains all the functions of a central processing unit of a computer”

(iii) SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DIFFERENT MICROPROCESSORS

Microprocessors are at the core of personal computers, laptops, mobile phones and complex military and
space systems. A microprocessor is usually a silicon chip that contains millions of transistors and other
components that process millions of instructions per second. Integrated with memory chips and other special
purpose chips, and directed by software, microprocessors process data and operator instructions.

Types of Microprocessor

Microprocessors are classified into five types, namely: CISC-Complex Instruction Set Microprocessors, RISC-
Reduced Instruction Set Microprocessor, ASIC- Application Specific Integrated Circuit, Superscalar
Processors, DSP’s-Digital Signal Microprocessors.

Complex Instruction Set Microprocessors

The short term of Complex Instruction Set Microprocessors is CISM and they classify a microprocessor in
which orders can be performed together along with other low level activities. These types of processors
performs the different tasks like downloading, uploading, recalling data into the memory card and recalling
data from the memory card. Apart from these tasks, it also does complex mathematical calculations in a single
command.

Reduced Instruction Set Microprocessor

The short term of Reduced Instruction Set Microprocessor is RISC. These types of processors are made
according to the function in which the microprocessor can carry out small things in specific command. In this
way these processors completes more commands at a faster rate.
Superscalar Microprocessors

Superscalar processor facsimiles the hardware on the processor to perform various tasks at a time. These
processors can be used for ALUs or multipliers. They have different operational units and these processors
can carry out more than a one command by continuously transmitting several instructions to the extra
operational units inside the processor.
The Application Specific Integrated Circuit
The short term of Application Specific Integrated Circuit processor is an ASIC. These processors are used for
particular purposes that includes of automotive emissions control or personal digital assistant’s computer.
This type of processor is made with proper specification, but apart from these it can also be made with off the
shelf gears.

Digital Signal Multiprocessors

Digital signal processors are also called as DSP’s, these processors are used to encode and decode the videos
or to convert the D/A (digital to analog) &A/D (analog to digital). They need a microprocessor that is
excellent in mathematical calculations. The chips of this processor are employed in RADAR, home theaters,
SONAR, audio gears, TV set top boxes and Mobile phones
There are many companies like Intel, Motorola, DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation ), TI (Texas Instruments)
associated with many microprocessors such as 8085 microprocessors, ASIC, CISM, RISC, DSPs and 8086
microprocessors like Intel.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Microprocessors

The advantages of microprocessors are
The processing speed is high ,
Intelligence has been brought to systems,
Easy maintenance,
Complex mathematics.

Some of the disadvantages of microprocessor are it might get overheated and the limitation of the
microprocessor imposes on size of data.