Reference no: EM132190137

Advanced Microprocessors Project Assignment -

You are a member of a design team that is task with designing a new 16-bit processor. The Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) for the processor have the following specifications:

• 16 General Purpose Registers
• 8 ALU instructions that takes two input register operands and write a result into a third output register operand
• 4 branch instructions that take an input register operand and an 8-bit immediate offset
• 2 memory access instructions that take two input register operands and one output register operand. 2 memory access instructions that take one input register operand, one output register operand and a 4-bit immediate offset.

(a) Develop an instruction encoding scheme for the processor, taking care to explain the advantage and disadvantages of your design.

(b) Draw a fully labeled block diagram of the basic components within the processor and explain the function of each component and how they are connected.

(c) Using the example of an instruction that adds two registers together and writes the result in a third register, describe the steps involved during the following phases of execution:

i. Fetch

ii. Decode

iii. Execute

iv. Write back

(d) The control unit that operates the data-path can be implemented using hardwire logic or a micro-code base system. Explain the idea of both methods, including the advantages and disadvantages of each.

(e) Design the ALU and the main control units

Use the Eight Great Ideas in Computer Architecture philosophy described in the text to guide your design and explain their application when applicable.