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| − | [[Category:Digital]] | + | #REDIRECT [[Multi issue OoO Ariane Backend (M)]] |
| − | [[Category:High Performance SoCs]]
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| − | [[Category:Computer Architecture]]
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| − | [[Category:2020]]
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| − | [[Category:Master Thesis]]
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| − | [[Category:Semester Thesis]]
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| − | [[Category:Zarubaf]]
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| − | [[Category:Nwistoff]]
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| − | [[Category:Available]]
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| − | == Introduction ==
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| − | Ariane/CVA6 (it transitioned to Openhardware in June and was renamed to CVA6, however, we like the name and keep it as an internal code name) is a popular, 6-stage, in-order, RISC-V CPU designed as part of the PULP project and capable of booting Linux. The current Ariane backend [1] is built around a scoreboard (essentially a small ROB) which took over more and more functionality.
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| − | A widely employed technique to increase sequential performance (IPC) is to issue multiple instructions per cycle, we call such architectures superscalar. A second performance improvement can come from the fact that not all instructions depend on each other. Clever architecture can issue independent instructions out of program order, exploiting instruction-level parallelism (ILP).
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| − | But increasing the issue width would mean adding further ports into the scoreboard, increasing complexity, power, and reducing operating frequency.
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| − | == Project ==
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| − | This project proposes to re-architect the backend of Ariane (keeping the frontend and caches as well as suitable sub-blocks such as TLBs, FPU, etc.) in a similar manner as other OoO architectures such as the MIPS R10000 [2], Alpha 21264 [3], OpenPower A20 [4], Boom [5]. Ideally, we would make the core parametric over the issue width (ranging from single issue up to four or six-way superscalar). The final goal is to have a reasonably advanced superscalar core running at around 1.5GHz operating frequency in a modern 12nm process with IPCs expected from that class of processor [6].
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| − | Depending on the timeframe further features can be added:
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| − | * RoCC Interface
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| − | * Bitmanipulation ALU
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| − | * Multi-level TLBs
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| − | * Page walk cache
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| − | * Speculative load/store disambiguation predictor [7]
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| − | This is an ambitious (but super rewarding) project so we are preferably looking for very dedicated master thesis students. In case you should be interested as part of a semester thesis we can try to find a suitable subset (for example just the re-naming logic) on which you can work.
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| − | ===== Requirements =====
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| − | * Strong interest in computer architecture
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| − | * Experience with HDLs (preferably SystemVerliog) such as taught in VLSI I
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| − | * Knowledge of ASIC tool flow (Synthesis) or parallel enrollment with VLSI II
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| − | Composition: 30% Architecture specification, 40% Verification, 30% RTL Implementation
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| − | ===== Project Supervisors =====
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| − | * [[:User:Zarubaf | Florian Zaruba]]: [mailto:zarubaf@iis.ee.ethz.ch zarubaf@iis.ee.ethz.ch]
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| − | * [[:User:Nwistoff | Nils Wistoff]]: [mailto:nwistoff@iis.ee.ethz.ch nwistoff@iis.ee.ethz.ch]
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| − | == References ==
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| − | * [1] https://github.com/openhwgroup/cva6
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| − | * [2] http://www.ece.mtu.edu/faculty/rmkieckh/cla/4173/REFERENCES/MIPS-R10K-uman1.pdf
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| − | * [3] http://www.archive.ece.cmu.edu/~ece447/s13/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=21264hrm.pdf
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| − | * [4] https://github.com/openpower-cores/a2o
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| − | * [5] https://docs.boom-core.org/en/latest/
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| − | * [6] https://carrv.github.io/2020/papers/CARRV2020_paper_15_Zhao.pdf
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| − | * [7] https://people.csail.mit.edu/emer/papers/1998.06.isca.storesets.pdf
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