Theses and Dissertations
Issuing Body
Mississippi State University
Advisor
Reese, Robert B.
Committee Member
Abdelwahed, Sherif.
Committee Member
Morris, Thomas H.
Date of Degree
5-12-2012
Document Type
Graduate Thesis - Open Access
Major
Electrical Engineering
Degree Name
Master of Science
College
James Worth Bagley College of Engineering
Department
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Abstract
Asynchronous design is an alternative to the more widely used synchronous design which allows for the elimination of a global clock network and associated design issues such as clock skew. Uncle is a toolflow that provides automated assistance for transforming a synchronous system specified in Verilog RTL to an asynchronous system. With assistance from Uncle an asynchronous delay-insensitive microprocessor is implemented using NULL Convention Logic (NCL) and verified to function properly. An advantage of asynchronous design is that it can be data-driven. Data-driven design allows specific blocks of logic to only be active when they are needed. Data-driven design is implemented to bypass parts of the asynchronous microprocessor. These parts included the ALU and the peripheral hardware multiplier. This resulted in a reduction of total power consumed and an increase in speed. Overall, it was concluded that asynchronous design with Uncle was a viable alternative to synchronous design.
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/11668/16623
Recommended Citation
Kalish, William, "Asynchronous Design Investigation for a 16-Bit Microprocessor" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 804.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/804
Comments
Asynchronous design is an alternative to the more widely used synchronous design which allows for the elimination of a global clock network and associated design issues such as clock skew. Uncle is a toolflow that provides automated assistance for transforming a synchronous system specified in Verilog RTL to an asynchronous system. With assistance from Uncle an asynchronous delay-insensitive microprocessor is implemented using NULL Convention Logic (NCL) and verified to function properly. An advantage of asynchronous design is that it can be data-driven. Data-driven design allows specific blocks of logic to only be active when they are needed. Data-driven design is implemented to bypass parts of the asynchronous microprocessor. These parts included the ALU and the peripheral hardware multiplier. This resulted in a reduction of total power consumed and an increase in speed. Overall, it was concluded that asynchronous design with Uncle was a viable alternative to synchronous design.