Implementation studies for a VLSI Prolog coprocessor

Author

Civera, Pierluigi ; Piccinini, Gianluca ; Zamboni, Maurizio

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron., Turin Polytech., Italy

Volume

9

Issue

1

fYear

1989

Firstpage

10

Lastpage

23

Abstract

A 32-bit coprocessor designed as one VLSI (very large-scale integrated) circuit that is based on microprogrammed architecture is described. The most innovative aspect of this project is the fully dedicated microarchitecture of the execution unit. A detailed analysis was carried out by considering two execution techniques, ´interpreted´ and ´compiled´, and the computational model and its implementation were simulated to support the final design decisions. A description is given of compiled execution, which was selected for the final design. The simulations trace the actual behavior of the execution model and point out the performance that can be obtained using different architectural solutions. The results permit the selection of an optimal architecture within the technological constraints of VLSI implementations.<>

Keywords

PROLOG; VLSI; computer architecture; microprocessor chips; microprogramming; satellite computers; 32 bit; 32-bit coprocessor; VLSI Prolog coprocessor; VLSI implementations; compiled execution; dedicated microarchitecture; execution model; execution unit; microprogrammed architecture; simulations; Computational modeling; Coprocessors; Data structures; Genetic expression; Logic; Magnetic heads; Pattern matching; Programming profession; Spatial databases; Very large scale integration;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Micro, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0272-1732

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/40.16791

Filename

16791