7 Key excerpts on "Types of Processor"

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  eBook - ePub

  DSP Software Development Techniques for Embedded and Real-Time Systems

  • Robert Oshana(Author)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • Newnes

    (Publisher)

  If a designer chooses to design in software, there are many Types of Processors available to choose from. There are a number of general-purpose processors, but in addition, there are processors that have been optimized for specific applications. Examples of such application specific processors are graphics processors, network processors and digital signal processors (DSPs). Application specific processors usually offer higher performance for a target application, but are less flexible than general-purpose processors.

  General-Purpose Processors

  Within the category of general-purpose processors are microcontrollers (μC) and microprocessors (μP) (Figure 3.5 ).

  Figure 3.5 General-purpose processor solutions (courtesy of Texas Instruments)

  Microcontrollers usually have control-oriented peripherals. They are usually lower cost and lower performance than microprocessors. Microprocessors usually have communications-oriented peripherals. They are usually higher cost and higher performance than microcontrollers.

  Note that some GPPs have integrated MAC units. It is not a “strength” of GPPs to have this capability because all DSPs have MACs—but, it is worth noting because a student might mention it. Regarding performance of the GPP’s MAC, it is different for each one.

  Microcontrollers

  A microcontroller is a highly integrated chip that contains many or all of the components comprising a controller. This includes a CPU, RAM and ROM, I/O ports, and timers. Many general-purpose computer are designed the same way. But a microcontroller is usually designed for very specific tasks in embedded systems. As the name implies, the specific task is to control a particular system, hence the name microcontroller. Because of this customized task, the device’s parts can be simplified, which makes these devices very cost effective solutions for these types of applications.

  Figure 3.6 Microcontroller solutions (courtesy of Texas Instruments)

  Some microcontrollers can actually do a multiply and accumulate (MAC) in a single cycle. But that does not necessarily make it a DSP. True DSPs can allow two 16×16 MACS in a single cycle including bringing the data in over the buses, and so on. It is this that truly makes the part a DSP. So, devices with hardware MACs might get a “fair” rating. Others get a “poor” rating. In general, microcontrollers can do DSP but they will generally do it slower.

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  eBook - ePub

  Electronics Explained

  The New Systems Approach to Learning Electronics

  • Louis E. Frenzel(Author)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • Newnes

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 12 ).

  The larger microcomputers, such as personal computers, are made with a microprocessor. A microprocessor is a large-scale integrated circuit that contains most of the digital logic circuitry usually associated with a digital computer. This logic circuitry is referred to as the central processing unit (CPU). A microprocessor is a single-chip CPU.

  Another common micro is called a core . A core is a microprocessor or microcomputer integrated with some other circuits. The core is made on the same silicon chip as a cell phone or a security device. Today multicore micros are common. Two or more cores are used to get more processing power.

  Embedded microcontrollers are complete micros on a single chip, including the CPU, memory, and input/output circuits. But in all cases, a microcomputer is an assembly of digital logic circuits, such as gates and flip-flops, that is used to process data. It is sometimes referred to as a data processor , or simply processor .

  Data, of course, refers to the binary numbers and words the processor works with. Processing refers to the way the data is manipulated or handled. Types of processing include arithmetic, logic, sorting, translating, editing, counting, and searching. Any action taken on the data is called processing. Processing normally implies that the data is changed in some way or is used to create new data. Data that is not processed as suggested above is dealt with in other ways. Four common ways are storing, retrieving, input, or output. The data is not changed by any of these techniques.

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  Memory, Microprocessor, and ASIC

  • Wai-Kai Chen, Wai-Kai Chen(Authors)
  • 2003(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  Computer microprocessors are designed for use as the central processing units (CPU) of computer systems such as personal computers, workstations, servers, and supercomputers. Although microprocessors started as humble programmable controllers in the early 1970s, virtually all computer systems built in the 1990s use microprocessors as their central processing units. The dominating architecture in the computer microprocessor domain today is the Intel 32-bit architecture, also known as IA-32 or X86. Other high-profile architectures in the computer microprocessor domain include Compaq-Digital Alpha, HP PA-RISC, Sun Microsystems SPARC, IBM/Motorola PowerPC, and MIPS.

  Embedded microprocessors are increasingly used in consumer and telecommunications products to satisfy the demands for quality and functionality. Major product areas that require embedded microprocessors include digital TV, digital cameras, network switches, high-speed modems, digital cellular phones, video games, laser printers, and automobiles. Future improvements in energy consumption, fabrication cost, and performance will further enable new applications such as the hearing aid. Many experts expect that embedded microprocessors will form the fastest-growing sector of the semiconductor business in the next decade.1

  Embedded microprocessors have been categorized into DSP processors and embedded CPUs due to historic reasons. DSP processors have been designed and marketed as special-purpose devices that are mostly programmed by hand to perform digital signal processing computations. A recent trend in the DSP market is to use compilers to alleviate the need for tedious hand-coding in DSP development. Another recent trend in the DSP market is toward integrating a DSP processor core with application-specific logic to form a single-chip solution. This approach is enabled by the fast-increasing chip density technology. The major benefit is reduced system cost and energy consumption. Two general types of DSP cores are available to application developers today. Foundry-captive DSP cores and related application-specific logic design services are provided by major semiconductor vendors such as Texas Instruments, Lucent Technologies, and SGS-Thompson to application developers who commit to their fabrication lines. A very large volume commitment is usually required to use the design service. Licensable DSP cores are provided by small to medium design houses to application developers who want to be able to choose fabrication lines.

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  Microelectronics

  • Jerry C. Whitaker(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  9 Microprocessors James G. Cottle 9.1    Introduction 9.2    Architecture Basics

  Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) and Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) Processors •  Logical Similarity •  Short Chronology of Microprocessor Development •  The Intel Family of Microprocessors •  The Motorola Family of Microprocessors •  RISC Processor Development

  9.1    Introduction

  In the simplest sense, a microprocessor may be thought of as a central processing unit (CPU) on a chip. Technical advances of microprocessors evolve quickly and are driven by progress in ultra large-scale integrated/very large-scale integrated (ULSI/VLSI) physics and technology; fabrication advances, including reduction in feature size; and improvements in architecture.

  Developers of microprocessor-based systems are interested in cost, performance, power consumption, and ease of programmability. The latter of these is, perhaps, the most important element in bringing a product to market quickly. A key item in the ease of programmability is availability of program development tools because it is these that save a great deal of time in small system implementation and make life a lot easier for the developer. It is not unusual to find small electronic systems driven by microcontrollers and microprocessors that are far more complex than need be for the project at hand simply because the ease of development on these platforms offsets considerations of cost and power consumption. Development tools are, therefore, a tangible asset to the efficient implementation of systems, utilizing microprocessors.

  Often, a more general purpose microprocessor has a companion microcontroller within the same family. The subject of microcontrollers is a subset of the broader area of embedded systems

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  Programmable Controllers for Factory Automation

  • David Johnson(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  4 The Central Processing Unit Although referred to as the brain of the system, the Central Processing Unit in a normal installation is the unsung hero, buried in a control cabinet, all but forgotten. 4.1 BASIC FUNCTIONALITY In a programmable controller system, the central processing unit (CPU) provides both the heart and the brain required for successful and timely control execution. It rapidly and efficiently scans all of the system inputs, examines and solves the application logic, and updates all of the system outputs. In addition, it also gives itself a checkup each scan to ensure that its structure is still intact. In this chapter we will examine the central processing unit as it relates to the entire system. Included will be the various functional blocks in the CPU, typical scan techniques, I/O interface and memory uses, power supplies, and system diagnostics. 4.2 TYPICAL FUNCTION BLOCK INTERACTIONS In practice, the central processing unit can vary in its architecture, but consists of the basic building block structure illustrated in Figure 4.1. The processor section consists of one or more microprocessors and their associated circuitry. While it is true that some of the older generation programmable controllers were designed without the luxury of using microprocessors, most modern systems use either a single microprocessor such as the 8086 or Z-80, or multiple microprocessors such as the AMD2903, used in a bit slice architecture. This multi-tasking approach is used in the multiple microprocessor system to break the control system tasks into many small components which can be executed in parallel. The result of this approach is to achieve execution speeds that are orders of magnitude faster than their single-tasking counterparts

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  Microprocessors and Microcomputer-Based System Design

  • Mohamed Rafiquzzaman(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  In typical 8-bit microprocessors such as the Intel 8085, technology places a limit on the chip area. As a consequence, these microprocessors include no hardware or firmware for performing scientific computations such as floating-point arithmetic, matrix manipulation, and graphic-data processing. Therefore, users of these systems must write these programs. Unfortunately, this approach is unacceptable in high-speed applications, since program execution takes a significant amount of time. To eliminate this problem, coprocessors are used.

  In this approach, a single chip is built for performing scientific computations at high speed. However, the chip is regarded as a companion to the original or host microprocessor. Typically, each special operation is encoded as an instruction that can be interpreted only by the companion processor. When the companion processor encounters one of these special instructions, it assumes the processing functions independent of the host microprocessor. The companion processor that operates in this manner is called the coprocessor. Therefore, this concept not only extends the capabilities of the host microprocessor, but also increases the processing rate of the system. The coprocessor concept is widely used with typical 32-bit microprocessors such as the Motorola 68020 and Intel 80386.

  It is important to make the distinction between standard peripheral hardware and a coprocessor. A coprocessor is a device that has the capability of communicating with the main processor through the protocol defined as the coprocessor interface. As mentioned before, the coprocessor also adds additional instructions, registers, and data types that are not directly supported by the main microprocessor. The coprocessor provides capabilities to the user without appearing to be hardware external to the main microprocessor.

  Standard peripheral hardware, on the other hand, is generally accessed through the use of interface registers mapped into the memory space of the main processor. The programmer uses standard processor instructions to access the peripheral interface registers and thus utilize the services provided by the peripheral. It should be pointed out that even though a peripheral can provide capabilities equivalent to a coprocessor for many applications, the programmer must implement the communication protocol between the main microprocessor and the peripheral necessary to use the peripheral hardware. Two main techniques may be used to pass commands to a coprocessor. These are intelligent monitor interface and coprocessors using special signals.

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  Digital Signal Processing

  Fundamentals and Applications

  • Li Tan(Author)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  9

  Hardware and Software for Digital Signal Processors

  Objectives

  This chapter introduces basics of digital signal processors such as processor architectures and hardware units, investigates fixed-point and floating-point formats, and illustrates the implementation of digital filters in real time.

  9.1 Digital Signal Processor Architecture

  Unlike microprocessors and microcontrollers, digital signal (DS) processors have special features that require operations such as fast Fourier transform (FFT), filtering, convolution and correlation, and real-time sample-based and block-based processing. Therefore, DS processors use a different dedicated hardware architecture.

  We first compare the architecture of the general microprocessor with that of the DS processor. The design of general microprocessors and microcontrollers is based on the VonNeumannarchitecture , which was developed from a research paper written by John von Neumann and others in 1946. Von Neumann suggested that computer instructions, as we shall discuss, be numerical codes instead of special wiring. Figure 9.1 shows the Von Neumann architecture.

  FIGURE 9.1 General microprocessor based on Von Neumann architecture.

  As shown in Figure 9.1 , a Von Neumann processor contains a single, shared memory for programs and data, a single bus for memory access, an arithmetic unit, and a program control unit. The processor proceeds in a serial fashion in terms of fetching and execution cycles. This means that the central processing unit (CPU) fetches an instruction from memory and decodes it to figure out what operation to do, then executes the instruction. The instruction (in machine code) has two parts: the opcode and the operand.

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