AμFLIPS: An Asynchronous Microprocessor With FLexIbly-timed Pipeline Stages

Abstract

AμFLIPS is an asynchronous microprocessor with novel pipeline register organization to resolve data and control hazards using synchronous hazard resolving schemes. Existing works claim that mechanisms for handling data and control hazards in synchronous systems are not directly applicable to asynchronous pipelined processors, because of distributed control nature of the latter. As a result of that, most asynchronous equivalents of MIPS propose novel hazard resolution methods, adding an overhead in terms of performance and complexity. In this work, we build a counter narrative by proposing a novel pipelined register organization that maintains synchrony with a flexible clock generator instead of the rigid clock, which also allow us to utilize the synchronous hazard resolving methods. Our simulation results - using Balsa - suggest 20.8% improvement in execution time as compared to one of the existing asynchronous processors.