Application-specific instruction set processor

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An application-specific instruction-set processor (ASIP, in German for example: processor with application-specific instruction set) is a processor whose instruction set has been optimized for a class of applications.

The term application or application is understood to mean a particular algorithm , such as a Fast Fourier Transform or a sorting algorithm . The purpose of an ASIP is to efficiently implement a class of algorithms with similar requirements using a digital circuit. In addition, due to its programmability, an ASIP is flexible for changes to the algorithms.

Depending on the target, you want to optimize the required silicon area, energy consumption or computing speed when designing the ASIP. For many applications, one to two orders of magnitude better results for each of these parameters can be achieved with an ASIP than with a standard processor ( e.g. ARM or PowerPC ) or a standard DSP ( digital signal processor ). This is achieved by optimizing the hardware architecture of the ASIP and its software together.

ASIP draft

During the design, the groups of elementary arithmetic operations used in the application (such as additions, subtractions, logical operations) and the data flow are first analyzed. A data flow diagram can serve as an illustration . Optimized instructions can then be defined based on the frequency of individual groups of operations.

literature

  • Paolo Ienne, Rainer Leupers (Eds.): Customizable Embedded Processors . Morgan Kaufmann, San Mateo, California 2006, ISBN 978-0-12-369526-0 .
  • Matthias Gries, Kurt Keutzer (Ed.): Building ASIPs: The Mescal Methodology . Springer, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0-387-26057-0 .
  • Oliver Schliebusch, Heinrich Meyr, Rainer Leupers: Optimized ASIP Synthesis from Architecture Description Language Models . Springer, Dordrecht 2007, ISBN 978-1-4020-5685-7 .