Distributed instruction set computer architecture

Author

Wang, Lingtao ; Wu, Chuan-lin

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Texas Univ., Austin, TX, USA

Volume

40

Issue

8

fYear

1991

fDate

8/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

915

Lastpage

934

Abstract

The Distributed Instruction Set Computer Architecture (DISC) is proposed as a fine-grained multiprocessing computer architecture. DISC uses a parallel instruction set and a distributed control mechanism to explore fine-grained, parallel processing in a multiple-functional-unit system. Multiple instructions are executed in parallel and/or out of order at the highest speed of n instructions/cycle, where n is the number of functional units. Based on this architecture, a hardware system is developed. Extensive studies were conducted on a behavioral DISC system model to investigate the performance level, the effect of program sizes, and the hardware utilization. Simulation showed that a DISC system incorporating 16 functional units can run 7.7 times faster than a single-functional-unit DISC system

Keywords

distributed processing; instruction sets; parallel architectures; computer architecture; distributed control mechanism; distributed instruction set computer; fine-grained multiprocessing; parallel instruction set; system model; Centralized control; Computer aided instruction; Computer architecture; Decoding; Distributed computing; Distributed control; Hardware; Logic; Out of order; Parallel processing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Computers, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9340

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/12.83637

Filename

83637