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Hardware Accelerators
Hardware acceleration is the use of computer hardware designed to perform specific functions more efficiently when compared to software running on a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU). Any transformation of data that can be calculated in software running on a generic CPU can also be calculated in custom-made hardware, or in some mix of both. To perform computing tasks more quickly (or better in some other way), generally one can invest time and money in improving the software, improving the hardware, or both. There are various approaches with advantages and disadvantages in terms of decreased latency, increased throughput and reduced energy consumption. Typical advantages of focusing on software may include more rapid development, lower non-recurring engineering costs, heightened portability, and ease of updating features or patching bugs, at the cost of overhead to compute general operations. Advantages of focusing on hardware may include speedup, reduced powe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electric Energy Consumption
Electric energy consumption is the form of energy consumption that uses electrical energy. Electric energy consumption is the actual energy demand made on existing electricity supply for transportation, residential, industrial, commercial, and other miscellaneous purposes. Global electricity consumption in 2019 was 22,848 terawatt-hour (TWh), about 135% more than the amount of consumption in 1990 (9,702 TWh). China, United States, and India accounted for over 50% of the global share of electricity consumption. Overview Electric energy is most often measured either in joules (J), or in watt hours (W·h). : 1 W·s = 1 J : 1 W·h = 3600 W·s = 3600 J Electric and electronic devices consume electric energy to generate desired output (i.e., light, heat, motion, etc.). During operation, some part of the energy is lost depending on the electrical efficiency. Electricity has been generated in power stations since 1882. The invention of the steam turbine in 1884 to drive the electr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Application-specific Integrated Circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficiency video codec. Application-specific standard product (ASSP) chips are intermediate between ASICs and industry standard integrated circuits like the 7400 series or the 4000 series. ASIC chips are typically fabricated using metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) technology, as MOS integrated circuit chips. As feature sizes have shrunk and design tools improved over the years, the maximum complexity (and hence functionality) possible in an ASIC has grown from 5,000 logic gates to over 100 million. Modern ASICs often include entire microprocessors, memory blocks including ROM, RAM, EEPROM, flash memory and other large building blocks. Such an ASIC is often termed a SoC (system-on-chip). Designers of digital ASICs often use a hardware descrip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Field-programmable Gate Array
A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturinghence the term '' field-programmable''. The FPGA configuration is generally specified using a hardware description language (HDL), similar to that used for an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Circuit diagrams were previously used to specify the configuration, but this is increasingly rare due to the advent of electronic design automation tools. FPGAs contain an array of programmable logic blocks, and a hierarchy of reconfigurable interconnects allowing blocks to be wired together. Logic blocks can be configured to perform complex combinational functions, or act as simple logic gates like AND and XOR. In most FPGAs, logic blocks also include memory elements, which may be simple flip-flops or more complete blocks of memory. Many FPGAs can be reprogrammed to implement different logic functions, allowing flexible reconfigur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fixed-function
Fixed-function is a term canonically used to contrast 3D graphics APIs and earlier GPUs designed prior to the advent of shader-based 3D graphics APIs and GPU architectures. History Historically fixed-function APIs consisted of a set of function entry points that would approximately or directly map to dedicated logic for their named purpose in GPUs designed to support them. As shader based GPUs and APIs evolved, fixed-function APIs were implemented by graphics driver engineers using the more general purpose shading architecture. This approach served as a segue that would continue providing the fixed-function API abstraction most developers were experienced with while allowing further development and enhancements of the newer shader-based architectures. OpenGL, OpenGL ES and DirectX (Direct3D) are all 3D graphics APIs that went through the transition from the fixed-function programming model to the shader-based programming model. Below is a table of when the transition from fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graphics Processing Unit
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobile phones, personal computers, workstations, and game consoles. Modern GPUs are efficient at manipulating computer graphics and image processing. Their parallel structure makes them more efficient than general-purpose central processing units (CPUs) for algorithms that process large blocks of data in parallel. In a personal computer, a GPU can be present on a video card or embedded on the motherboard. In some CPUs, they are embedded on the CPU die. In the 1970s, the term "GPU" originally stood for ''graphics processor unit'' and described a programmable processing unit independently working from the CPU and responsible for graphics manipulation and output. Later, in 1994, Sony used the term (now standing for ''graphics processing unit'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Performance By Orders Of Magnitude
This list compares various amounts of computing power in instructions per second organized by order of magnitude in FLOPS. Scientific E notation index: 2 , 3 , 6 , 9 , 12 , 15 , 18 , 21 , 24 , >24 __TOC__ Deciscale computing (10−1) * 5×10−1: Computing power of the average human mental calculation for multiplication using pen and paper Scale computing (100) * 1 OP/S: Power of an average human performing calculations using pen and paper * 1 OP/S: Computing power of Zuse Z1 * 5 OP/S: World record for addition set Decascale computing (101) * 5×101: Upper end of serialized human perception computation (light bulbs do not flicker to the human observer) Hectoscale computing (102) * 2.2×102: Upper end of serialized human throughput. This is roughly expressed by the lower limit of accurate event placement on small scales of time (The swing of a conductor's arm, the reaction time to lights on a drag strip, etc.) * 2×102: IBM 602 1946 computer. K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Full Custom
Full-custom design is a methodology for designing integrated circuits by specifying the layout of each individual transistor and the interconnections between them. Alternatives to full-custom design include various forms of semi-custom design, such as the repetition of small transistor subcircuits;{{cite book , title = The VLSI handbook , author = Rajneesh kaswan , publisher = CRC Press , year = 1999 , isbn = 0-8493-8593-8 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0r5LihlMogkC&q=%22full+custom+design%22&pg=PT853 one such methodology is the use of standard cell libraries (standard cell libraries are themselves designed using full-custom design techniques). Full-custom design potentially maximizes the performance of the chip, and minimizes its area, but is extremely labor-intensive to implement. Full-custom design is limited to ICs that are to be fabricated in extremely high volumes, notably certain microprocessors and a small number of ASICs. As of 2008 the main facto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Functional Verification
In electronic design automation, functional verification is the task of verifying that the logic design conforms to specification. Functional verification attempts to answer the question "Does this proposed design do what is intended?" This is a complex task, and takes the majority of time and effort in most large electronic system design projects. Functional verification is a part of more encompassing ''design verification'', which, besides functional verification, considers non-functional aspects like timing, layout and power. Functional verification is very difficult because of the sheer volume of possible test-cases that exist in even a simple design. Frequently there are more than 10^80 possible tests to comprehensively verify a design – a number that is impossible to achieve in a lifetime. This effort is equivalent to program verification, and is NP-hard or even worse – and no solution has been found that works well in all cases. However, it can be attacked by many meth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semiconductor Device Fabrication
Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to manufacture semiconductor devices, typically integrated circuit (IC) chips such as modern computer processors, microcontrollers, and memory chips such as NAND flash and DRAM that are present in everyday electrical and electronics, electronic devices. It is a multiple-step sequence of Photolithography, photolithographic and chemical processing steps (such as surface passivation, thermal oxidation, planar process, planar diffusion and p–n junction isolation, junction isolation) during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer (electronics), wafer made of pure semiconducting material. Silicon is almost always used, but various compound semiconductors are used for specialized applications. The entire manufacturing process takes time, from start to packaged chips ready for shipment, at least six to eight weeks (tape-out only, not including the circuit design) and is performed in highly specialized semiconduct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Integrated Circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny MOSFETs (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors) integrate into a small chip. This results in circuits that are orders of magnitude smaller, faster, and less expensive than those constructed of discrete electronic components. The IC's mass production capability, reliability, and building-block approach to integrated circuit design has ensured the rapid adoption of standardized ICs in place of designs using discrete transistors. ICs are now used in virtually all electronic equipment and have revolutionized the world of electronics. Computers, mobile phones and other home appliances are now inextricable parts of the structure of modern societies, made possible by the small size and low cost of ICs such as modern computer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Execution Unit
In computer engineering, an execution unit (E-unit or EU) is a part of the central processing unit (CPU) that performs the operations and calculations as instructed by the computer program. It may have its own internal control sequence unit (not to be confused with the CPU's main control unit), some registers, and other internal units such as an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), address generation unit (AGU), floating-point unit (FPU), load-store unit (LSU), branch execution unit (BEU) or some smaller and more specific components. archived on the |
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