The next generation of computer system designers will be less concerned about details of processors and memories, and more concerned about the elements of a system tailored to particular applications. These designers will have a fundamental knowledge of processors and other elements in the system, but the success of their design will depend on the skills in making system-level tradeoffs that optimize the cost, performance and other attributes to meet application requirements. This book provides a new treatment of computer system design, particularly for System-on-Chip (SOC), which addresses the issues mentioned above. It begins with a global introduction, from the high-level view to the lowest common denominator (the chip itself), then moves on to the three main building blocks of an SOC (processor, memory, and interconnect). Next is an overview of what makes SOC unique (its customization ability and the applications that drive it). The final chapter presents future challenges for system design and SOC possibilities.

Innovative techniques and cutting-edge research in computer arithmetic design

Computer arithmetic is a fundamental discipline that drives many modern digital technologies. High-performance VLSI implementations of 3-D graphics, encryption, streaming digital audio and video, and signal processing all require fast and efficient computer arithmetic algorithms. The demand for these fast implementations has led to a wealth of new research in innovative techniques and designs.

Advanced Computer Arithmetic Design is the result of ten years of effort at Stanford University under the Sub-Nanosecond Arithmetic Processor (SNAP) project, which author Michael Flynn directs. Written with computer designers and researchers in mind, this volume focuses on design, rather than on other aspects of computer arithmetic such as number systems, representation, or precision.

Each chapter begins with a review of conventional design approaches, analyzes the possibilities for improvement, and presents new research that advances the state of the art. The authors present new data in these vital areas:

• Addition and the Ling adder

• Improvements to floating-point addition

• Encoding to reduce execution times for multiplication

• The effects of technology scaling on multiplication

• Techniques for floating-point division

• Approximation techniques for high-level functions such as square root, logarithms, and trigonometric functions

• Assessing cost performance of arithmetic units

• Clocking to increase computer operation frequency

• New implementation of continued fractions to the approximation of functions

This volume presents the results of a decade’s research in innovative and progressive design techniques. Covering all the most important research topics in the field, Advanced Computer Arithmetic Design is the most up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of new research currently available.