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Microprocessors and Microcontrollers Characteristics and Classification

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Kavishka Liyanage
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5 views9 pages

Microprocessors and Microcontrollers Characteristics and Classification

Uploaded by

Kavishka Liyanage
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Microprocessors and

Microcontrollers:
Characteristics and
Classification
Explore key characteristics and classification methods of microprocessors
and microcontrollers. Understand instruction and data stream multiplicity,
Flynn's taxonomy, and methods of parallel processing.
Microprocessors vs. Microcontrollers
Microprocessors Microcontrollers
General-purpose CPUs Integrated CPU, memory, peripherals
Require external components Clock speeds 1 MHz to 500 MHz
Examples: Intel Core i7, AMD Ryzen Low power consumption (milliwatts to watts)
Clock speeds up to 5 GHz Examples: ARM Cortex-M, PIC, AVR
High power consumption (65-125W) Used in embedded, IoT, automotive
A. Multiplicity of Instruction - Data Stream
This concept focuses on how CPUs handle instructions and data simultaneously. Single or multiple streams drastically affect
architecture and performance. It forms the basis for classifications like Flynn9s taxonomy and parallel processing strategies.
B. Flynn's Classification
SISD
Single Instruction, Single Data. Traditional uniprocessor, e.g. Intel 8086.

SIMD
Single Instruction, Multiple Data. Parallel data operations like GPUs.

MISD
Multiple Instruction, Single Data. Rare, used in fault-tolerant systems.

MIMD
Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data. Multi-core and distributed computing.
SISD Architecture
A single processing unit runs one instruction at a time. It is limited by clock
speed and instruction cycle. Common in early PCs and simple embedded
systems like PIC16F84.

Sequential execution
Simple design
Limited throughput
SIMD Architecture
One instruction operates on multiple data points simultaneously. Ideal for graphics and scientific computing. GPUs like NVIDIA
GeForce RTX excel in this model.

Massive parallelism
Handles data arrays efficiently
Speeds up image and video tasks
C. Serial vs. Parallel Processing
Serial Processing Parallel Processing

Instructions executed one after another. Simple but limited by Multiple instructions run concurrently. Boosts throughput using
single core speed. multicores and threads.
D. Parallelism vs. Pipelining
Parallelism
1 Concurrent execution across multiple cores or processors for
task-level parallelism.

Pipelining
2 Overlapping instruction stages (fetch, decode, execute) inside a
single CPU core.
Conclusion
Architecture Defines Flynn9s Taxonomy
Classification Clarifies Types
Understanding architectures Classifies systems by
helps choose the right instruction and data streams
processor for applications. into four main categories.

Parallelism Enhances Performance


Parallel and pipelined processing strategies boost speed and
efficiency.

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