Engineers can cut the size and power half by deleting the unused logic gates in the universal microcontroller.
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Rakesh Kumar, Associate Professor of Electric and Computer Engineering, Illinois, said: "Processor is excessively designed for most applications. A well-known and necessary fact is: in order to have programmability and flexibility, the content on the processor is more Application is more. In particular, the situation is especially true for ultra-low power microcontrollers that drive the latest embedded computing platform (such as wearable devices and Internet of Things sensors). They usually run a very simple application There is no other thing (even if there is no operating system), this means that most of the circuits in the chip have not seen some data at all. "
John Sartori, Assistant Professor Minnesota University Assistant (the students of Kumar), and their student decided to solve this waste problem. Their solution begins with the design of the research universal microcontroller. They came up with a quick way to determine which logic gates never participated in the application that needs to run, and then deletes these extra doors. The result is the "custom processor" said by Kumar, which is a minimized, complexity, lower version of the original microcontroller intended to perform only the desired application. In June, at the International Symposium on the 44th Computer Architecture in Toronto, Kumar and Sartori introduced the custom processor project in detail.
Kumar said: "Our method is to find all the hardware that the application guarantees the unused, regardless of the input. The remaining is a set or superchard, which is all possible paths that the data can be used. Then we remove no Touching the hardware. "
They start from the MSP430 microcontroller, making custom designs for implementing applications such as fast Fourier transform, autocorrelation functions, and interpolation filtering. The logic gate of only half of these designs is part of the original microcontroller design. In fact, in 15 common microcontroller applications they studied, there is no need for more than 60% of the door. On average, the design of the chip size is reduced by 62%, and the power consumption is reduced by 50%. The average energy saving is as high as 65% by utilizing a shorter distance signal transmission.
Sartori said: "It is really surprising. Most people think that almost all things are used in such a small and simple processor; but for a given application, there are many logical gates. Completely delete, and software is still very perfect. "
If you want the processor to perform two or more applications, this method is still valid; it can even handle the operating system plus application. They tested with real-time operating system Freertos. When it runs alone, 57% of the door is completely touched. If Frertos is run with any of the above 15 applications, only 27% of the door is not used, but Kumar pointed out that these applications typically run "bare metal" - they do not need operating systems.
Why don't you order ASIC (dedicated integrated circuit)? One sentence: cost. Kumar said that the embedded microcontroller is suitable for low-capacity, low cost use, from head design and testing the cost of ASIC. This process is simplified by starting from the standard microcontroller design, and it is cheaper.
Kumar said that this is like a "black box". Enter an application, it outputs the processor design. "
Tom Hackenberg, chief analyst of the Embedded Processor of Market Research, said that things may not be as simple. Test, verification, and other costs encountered during the development of new application chips still exist. If this technology does not reduce the cost of the design process, the cheap microcontroller (averages about $ 1, but as low as 25 cents) is still a successful solution.
However, Hackenberg said: "If this concept has the features they say, the design of the design that is designed to be specific applications may be a simpler process."
Research engineers from ARM, Cambridge, England, hopes that things can become so simple. They have been working hard to develop a project called "Plastic ARM", which is a one-time microcontroller that constructs 1 cents on plastics using printed electronic technology. Their first trial occupied 7.5 square centimeters. James MYERS, the project leader, said that after a whole year of hard work, it has finally completed the target of 1 square centimeter, and can customize it according to the application. With this summer, with the help of a student in Sartori, they plan to use custom processor technology to see if they can achieve the same or better results.
He said, "Use printing electronic technology, the design of the design chip should be lower than the silicon. There should be more opportunities for the design for specific applications, but if the design cost remains unchanged, it should not be this. I want It is reduced design cost and manufacturing cost. If you can automatically generate a customized version of the processor, it is greatly beneficial. "
Original link: https://www.eeboard.com/news/chip-4/
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