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Asynchronous CPUs. Peter Ding. History of Asynchronous CPUs. In 1952, the University of Illinois built the Ordnance Discrete Variable Automatic Computer ORDVAC In 1962, the University of Illinois built the Illinois Automatic Computer ILLIAC II Speed-Independent Circuity
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Asynchronous CPUs Peter Ding
History of Asynchronous CPUs • In 1952, the University of Illinois built the Ordnance Discrete Variable Automatic Computer • ORDVAC • In 1962, the University of Illinois built the Illinois Automatic Computer • ILLIAC II • Speed-Independent Circuity • Mersenne Prime Numbers
Caltech Asynchronous Microprocessor • World’s first asynchronous microprocessor in 1988 • Hot coffee caused the pulse rate to slow down • Liquid nitrogen caused the pulse rate to speed up • Ran on a potato
Asynchronous CPUs • No central clock • “Pipeline controls” or “FIFO sequencers” • Starts the next stage of logic after the existing stage is completed • Speed only limited by propagation delays of logic gates • Components can run at different speeds • Clocked CPU components are synchronized with the central clock
Asynchronous CPUs • Lower power consumption • Clock can consume 40-70% of the power budget • Consumes next to zero energy when idle • Lower electromagnetic interference • Clocked CPUs will have large regular spikes of radio frequency energy during peak current demands • Different components at different speeds yield irregular spikes with small amplitudes and wider peaks
Asynchronous CPUs • Not bottlenecked by a clock • Avoids clock skew
Obstacles of Asynchronous CPUs • Testability • Design Tools Support • Design Practice
References • [1] Barton, R. S. (1961). A new approach to the functional design of a digital computer. IRE-AIEE-ACM '61 (Western) Papers, 393-396. • [2] Electronic computers within the Ordnance Corps. Retrieved from http://ftp.arl.mil/mike/comphist/61ordnance/chap4.html • [3] ILLIAC II-A Short Description and Annotated Bibliography. (1965). IEEE Transactions on Electronic Computers, Electronic Computers, IEEE Transactions on, IEEE Trans. Electron. Comput, (3), 399. doi:10.1109/PGEC.1965.264146 • [4] Martin, Alain J., Burns, Steven M., Lee, T.K., Borkovic, Drazen., Hazewindus, Pieter J. (1989). The Design of an Asynchronous Microprocessor. Proc. Decennial Caltech Conference on VLSI, 20-22 • [5] Potato Power. Retrieved from http://www.async.caltech.edu/~mika/potato/potato3.html • [6] Pahinkar, Sanskriti., Negandhi, Harshita. (2013). Asynchronous Microprocessor. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications (3) • [7] Asynchronous Design. Retrieved from http://hdlplanet.tripod.com/comp_arch/async.html