A Project Report on

4 BIT MICROPROCESSOR DESIGN

USING VHDL
In partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the degree
of
Bachelor of Technology in

Information Technology
Submitted by

Sanjona Mazumder
Registration No.: 111040110160
Roll No.:10400211064
Prof. Kajari Sur
Department of Information Technology
Academic Year 2011-2015

Institute of Engineering & Management

Gurukul, Y-12, Block -EP, Sector-V, Salt Lake Electronics Complex
Kolkata - 700 091, West Bengal, India.
Affiliated to

West Bengal University of Technology

BF-142, Bidhannagar, Sector- I, Kolkata-700064, West Bengal, India.

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INDEX
S.No. Topic
No.
1.
1.1
1.2
1.3
2.
2.1
2.2
2.2.1
2.2.2
2.2.3
2.3
2.3.1
2.3.2
2.3.3
2.3.4
2.3.5
2.3.6
3.
3.1
3.2
3.2.1
3.2.2
4.
4.1.
4.2.
4.2.1
4.2.2.
4.2.3
4.2.4.
4.2.5.
4.3
5.
6.

Pg.

Introduction...............6
A brief history.........................6
Components of a Microprocessor....8
Objectives....................8
Overview of Microprocessor...9
Microprocessor: A brief overview..9
Basic elements of a Microprocessor11
Arithmetic Logic Unit.11
Register Array.12
Control Unit... 13
More microprocessor sub-components...15
Memory...15
Input/Output Ports..16
System Bus.... 16
Address Bus... 16
Data Bus.17
Control Bus.... 17
Overview of Xilinx and VHDL. ... 18
Xilinx. 18
VHDL 19
Advantages.20
Benefits of using VHDL 21
4-bit Microprocessor Design..24
Introduction24
Function of blocks of VSM... 25
Program Counter25
Program memory... 25
Accumulator...27
Register...... 28
ALU... 31
Instructions Table.. 34
Results and Discussion.. 35
Conclusion. 44

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my heartiest gratitude to my project supervisor

Professor Dr. Mohuya Chakraborty and Prof. Kajari Sur for their invaluable advices
and consecutive support which made the whole work possible. They taught and
guided me on how to approach a difficult project topic with simple and neat ways.
I wish to express my sincere thanks to all my teachers and my classmates for
providing necessary information whenever required. It is also a great pleasure to
thank all the members of Department of Information Technology, Institute of
Engineering and Management, West Bengal University of Technology.

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ABSTRACT
The main objective of this project is to understand the basic architecture of
microprocessor by designing a 4-bit microprocessor. Microprocessor is basically an
electronic device that consists of arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) and control circuitry
which are required to function as computers CPU. Microprocessor is an integrated
circuit that interprets and executes the program instructions and behaves intelligently.
The processor operates at a speed of the internal clock and the speed of the clock
depends upon the no. of pulses per second. With each clock pulse, the processor
performs the function that corresponds to the instruction.

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The power of the processor can be calculated by no. of instructions executed

per second. During the execution of instructions, data are stored temporarily in
memory units called registers. The control signal is the electronic signals used for
communication among various processor units during the execution of the instruction.
With the advancement in integrated circuit technology the power of the processor has
increased tremendously.
Microprocessors are widely used in the embedded sector based on general
purpose application and special purpose application. Microprocessors are used in
instruments to make it intelligent using behavioral coding.
The existing microprocessors, namely, Intel 8086/8088 and 80186/80286, Zilog
Z8001/Z8002, Digital Equipment LSI 11, Motorola 6800, national Semiconductors
NS 1600 are very complex in design and understanding the basic functionality is a
great challenge. In order to understand the basic knowhow of the microprocessor
architecture, a simplified approach has been adopted by designing a 4-bit
microprocessor.
The software used for designing and simulating is Xilinx 7.1i using VHDL. All
the sub-circuits are connected together and tested and simulated. VHDL is a hardware
description language. It is a language specifically developed to describe digital
electronic hardware and its attributes. It is a flexible language and can be applied to
many different design situations. Digital circuits captured using VHDL can be easily
simulated are more likely to be synthesizable into multiple target technologies and can
be archived for later modification and reuse. VHDL is commonly used to write text
models that describe a logic circuit.
A sincere effort has been made through this project to understand the
functioning of a microprocessor. By adopting this approach, a foundation for building
complex microprocessors with extended instruction set and a more powerful
Arithmetic Logic Circuit in order to build a more attractive and sophisticated
microprocessor.
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1

A brief history
Early computers were made possible by the invention of the transistor in 1947.

The transistor transferred information to other transistors over a network of chemicals

embedded in silicon. These connected circuits, or integrated circuit, were the
technology required for the eventual creation of the microprocessor. As manufacturing
technology evolved, more and more transistors could be placed on a single silicon

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wafer, and each transistor's function -- whether it was a simple gate for information,
for example, or a decoder -- could be more accurately assigned and mapped.
In 1971, Intel introduced the first processor on a single wafer, or
microprocessor. On this one processor, engineers Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff and
Stanley Mazor, placed all the required circuitry for a computer's function. The Intel
4004, as it was called, brought down the cost to produce computers, as well as the size
of each unit, which previously had to store hundreds, if not thousands, of individual
silicon wafers.
A microprocessor is one of the most central part of a modern personal
computer or, in fact, any advanced computer device. It integrates the functions of a
central processing unit the portion of a computer responsible for carrying out
programmed instructions, onto a single integrated circuit that couples the important
thinking devices of the machine with the electrical infrastructure needed to support
them. Microprocessor design is able to integrate a tremendous amount of processing
power in a very small space. Perhaps more than any other component of the modern
computer, the microprocessor has a long history.
The microprocessor revolution began with a bold and innovative approach in
logic design pioneered by Intel engineer Ted Hoff. In 1969, Intel was primarily in the
business of designing semiconductor memory. Intel introduced a 64 bit bipolar RAM
chip that year. In the same year Intel received a contract from a Japanese company
named Busicom to design a programmable computer. The programmable calculator
was designed successfully with a general purpose logic device that can be
programmed by storing necessary patterns of 0s and 1s in the memory. Intel
introduced the name microprocessor. They invented the first 4-bit microprocessor as
4004. This is quickly replaced by the 8-bit microprocessor w 8008, which was in turn
superseded by the Intel 8080. In the mid-1970s, the Intel 8080 was widely used in
control applications and small computers also were designed using 8080 as the CPU.
Within a few years after the emergence of the 8080, the Motorola 6800, the Zilog Z80,
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and the Intel 8085 microprocessors were developed as improvements over the
8080.The 8080 was designed with a different architecture and instruction set from
8080. In 1978 16-bit chip 8086 was introduced and in 1979, the cheaper version of
8086, 8088 was invented by Intel. There were so many 16 bit chips such as Intel
80186, 80188, 80286. In 1986 the 32-bit chip 80386 was introduced that could address
4 GB memory. Intel 80486, Intel Pentium, Intel Pentium Pro , Pentium II Pentium III,
Intel Dual Core were also a 32-bit microprocessor. In 2006 Intel Core 2 was
introduced which was a 64-bit processor. Its clock speed was 1.2GHZ to 3 GHZ. It
was launched in three different versions, Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core 2 Quad and Intel
Core 2 Extreme. Intel Core i7, Intel Core i5 , Intel Corei3 were also 64 bit processor.

1.2

Components of a microprocessor
The microprocessor system can be represented with the following components:
(a) Microprocessor
(b) Memory
(c) Input/Output
These three components work together to perform a given task and hence they

comprise a system. They are organized around a common communication path called
a Bus. The components are referred to as subsystems and the entire group of
components is referred to as a system. The physical components are known as
hardware and a set of instructions written for the microprocessor to perform a atsk is
caked a program and the group of programs is known as software.
The microprocessor operates in the binary numbers 0 and 1 called bits. Each
processor has a fixed set of instructions in the form of binary patterns called machine
language. There are two categories of microprocessor applications, namely,
reprogrammable systems and embedded systems. In reprogrammable systems,
microprocessor is used for computing and data processing whereas in embedded
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systems the microprocessor is a part of a final product and is not available for
programming to end users.

1.3

Objectives
The objective of this project is to design a 4-bit microprocessor rby using

VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language). This
microprocessor has the basic instruction that has been explained in the Microprocessor
subject. This design uses VHDL as a hardware description language. Based on
available resources, limited time frame and expertise, this research project is narrowed
down to the following scope of work:
This project includes the design of 4-bit microprocessor
Its components using VHDL and collecting the simulation result
Analysis of the simulated result of 4-bit microprocessor.

CHAPTER 2
OVERVIEW OF MICROPROCESSOR
2.1

Microprocessor: A brief overview

A microprocessor is programmable device that accepts digital data as input,

processes it according to the instruction stored in its memory and provides results as
output. It can be viewed as a programmable logic device that can be used to control
processes or to turn on/off devices. The Microprocessor can be viewed as a data
processing unit or a computing unit of a computer. It has computing and decisionmaking capability similar to that of the central processing unit of a computer.
Nowadays, the microprocessor is being used in a wide range of products called
microprocessor-based products or systems. VHDL language is a general purpose
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language and this language has various features. The main aim of this project is to tie
all of these features together to design a small CPU, verify its functionality that it can
be synthesized.
A central processing unit (CPU) is the electronic circuitry within
a computer that carries out the instructions of a computer program by performing the
basic arithmetic, logical, control and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the
instructions. The term has been used in the computer industry at least since the early
1960s.[1] Traditionally, the term "CPU" refers to a processor and its control unit (CU),
distinguishing these core elements of a computer from external components such
as main memory and I/O circuitry.
Most modern CPUs are microprocessors, meaning they are contained on a
single integrated circuit (IC) chip. An IC that contains a CPU may also contain
memory, peripheral interfaces, and other components of a computer; such integrated
devices are variously called microcontrollers or systems on a chip (SoC). Some
computers employ a multi-core processor, which is a single chip containing two or
more CPUs called "cores"; in that context, single chips are sometimes referred to as
"sockets".Array processors or vector processors have multiple processors that operate
in parallel, with no unit considered central.

CENTRAL
PROCESSOR
INPUT

ALU

CU

OUTPUT

MEMORY UNIT
RAM
CACHE

ROM

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STORAGE
Fig 2.1: Block diagram of CPU

2.2

Basic elements of a microprocessor

The basic elements of a microprocessor are:

Arithmetic
Register
Logic
Array
Unit

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Fig 2.2: Basic elements of a microprocessor

2.2.1

Arithmetic Logic Unit

The ALU is the fundamental building block of the central processing unit of a

computer. Depending on how the ALU is designed it can make the CPU more
powerful. It performs a number of arithmetic and logical operations such as add and
subtract and some logical operations such as AND, OR, and XOR .

Fig 2.3: ALU Interface

This is the symbol of an ALU. Inputs a and b are the two input busses upon which the
ALU operations are performed. Output bus c returns the result of the ALU operation.
Input select (sel) determines which of the arithmetic or logical operations operation is
performed.

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2.2.2

Register Array
The regarray segment is used to form the set of registers within the CPU that

are used to store intermediate values during instruction process.

Fig 2.4: RegArray Symbol

To write a location in the regarray, set input sel (select) to the location to be written,
input data with the data to be written, and put a rising edge on the input clk (clock). To
read a location from regarray, set input sel to the location to be read and set input en to
a 1; the data is output on port q.

2.2.3

Control Unit

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The control block supplies the necessary signal to make the data flow properly
through the CPU and perform the expected functions. In the program the architecture
contains a state machine that causes all appropriate signal values to update based on
the current state and input signals and produce a next state for the state machine. The
control has a few inputs and a lot of outputs.

Fig 2.5: Control Symbol

The control block provides all of the control signals to regulate data traffic for the
CPU. The control block is a very large state machine that contains a number of states

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for each instruction. Executing all of the states for an instruction performs the
necessary steps to complete the instruction.

2.3

More microprocessor sub-components

2.3.1

Memory
In computing, memory refers to the devices used to store information for use in

a computer. The term primary memory is used for storage systems which functions at
a high-speed (i.e. RAM), as a distinction from secondary memory, which
provides program and data storage that is slow to access but offers higher memory
capacity.
Random Access Memory is the same as main memory. When used by itself, the
term RAM refers to read and write memory; that is, you can both write data into RAM
and read data from RAM. This is in contrast to ROM, which permits you only to read
data. Most RAM is volatile, which means that it requires a steady flow of electricity to
maintain its contents. As soon as the power is turned off, whatever data was in RAM
is lost. Computers almost always contain a small amount of read-only memory (ROM)
that holds instructions for starting up the computer. Unlike RAM, ROM cannot be
written to.
In a memory chip, all registers are arranged in a sequence and identified by
binary numbers called memory addresses. To communicate with memory, the
microprocessor unit should be able to select the chip and then identify the register and
then read from or write into the register. The microprocessor unit uses its address bus
to send the address of a memory register and uses the data bus and control lines to
read from or write into that register.
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2.3.2

Input and Output Ports

Input and output ports are the physical interfaces through which the

microprocessor communicates with the outside world. The microprocessor unit

accepts binary data as input from devices such as keyboards and A/D converters and
sends data to outside devices such as LEDs or printers.

2.3.3

System Bus
The system bus is a communication path between the microprocessor and

peripherals. It is a group of wires to carry bits. These buses are classified into the
address bus, the data bus and the control bus. All the peripherals and memory share
the same bus.

2.3.4

Address Bus
The address bus is unidirectional. The bits flow in one direction from the

microprocessor unit to the peripheral devices. The microprocessor unit uses the
address bus to perform the first function that is identifying a peripheral or a memory
location. Most 8-bit microprocessors have 16 address lines. The number of address
lines is arbitrary, it is determined by the designer of a microprocessor based on such
considerations as availability of pins and intended applications of the processor.
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2.3.5

Data bus
The data bus is a group of lines used for data flow. These lines are

bidirectional. The data flows in both directions between the microprocessor unit and
memory and peripheral devices. The microprocessor unit uses the data bus to perform
the second function that is transferring binary information. The 8 data lines in case of
8085 enable the microprocessor unit to manipulate 8-bit ranging from 00 to ff. So
8085 is known as an b-bit microprocessor and Motorola 68000 and Zilog Z8000 are
known as 16-bit microprocessors.

2.3.6

Control Bus
The control bus comprises of various single lines that carry synchronization

signals. The microprocessor unit uses such lines to perform the third function that is
providing timing signals.

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CHAPTER 3
OVERVIEW OF XILINX AND VHDL
3.1

Xilinx
Xilinx ISE (Integrated Synthesis Environment) is a software tool produced

by Xilinx for synthesis and analysis of HDL designs, enabling the developer
to synthesize ("compile") their designs, perform timing analysis,
examine RTL diagrams, simulate a design's reaction to different stimuli, and configure
the target device with the programmer.
The Xilinx ISE is a design environment for FPGA products from Xilinx, and is
tightly-coupled to the architecture of such chips, and cannot be used with FPGA
products from other vendors. The Xilinx ISE is primarily used for circuit synthesis
and design, while the ModelSim logic simulator is used for system-level testing. Other
components shipped with the Xilinx ISE include the Embedded Development Kit
(EDK), a Software Development Kit (SDK) and ChipScope Pro. The primary user
interface of the ISE is the Project Navigator, which includes the design hierarchy
(Sources), a source code editor (Workplace), an output console (Transcript), and a
processes tree (Processes).
The Design hierarchy consists of design files (modules), whose dependencies
are interpreted by the ISE and displayed as a tree structure. For single-chip designs
there may be one main module, with other modules included by the main module,

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similar to themain() subroutine in C++ programs. Design constraints are specified in

modules, which include pin configuration and mapping.
The Processes hierarchy describes the operations that the ISE will perform on
the currently active module. The hierarchy includes compilation functions, their
dependency functions, and other utilities. The window also denotes issues or errors
that arise with each function.
The Transcript window provides status of currently running operations, and
informs engineers on design issues. Such issues may be filtered to show Warnings,
Errors, or both.
System-level testing may be performed with the ModelSim logic simulator, and
such test programs must also be written in HDL languages. Test bench programs may
include simulated input signal waveforms, or monitors which observe and verify the
outputs of the device under test.
ModelSim may be used to perform the following types of simulations:

Logical verification, to ensure the module produces expected results

Behavioural verification, to verify logical and timing issues

Post-place & route simulation, to verify behaviour after placement of the

module within the reconfigurable logic of the FPGA

Xilinx's patented algorithms for synthesis allow designs to run up to 30% faster
than competing programs and allows greater logic density which reduces
project costs.

Also, due to the increasing complexity of FPGA fabric, including memory

blocks and I/O blocks, more complex synthesis algorithms were developed that
separate unrelated modules into slices, reducing post-placement errors.

IP Cores are offered by Xilinx and other third-party vendors, to implement

system-level functions such as digital signal processing (DSP), bus interfaces,
networking protocols, image processing, embedded processors, and

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peripherals. Xilinx has been instrumental in shifting designs from ASIC-based

implementation to FPGA-based implementation.

3.2

VHDL
VHDL is a hardware description language. It is a language specifically

developed to describe digital electronic hardware and its attributes. It is a flexible

language and can be applied to many different design situations. Digital circuits
captured using VHDL can be easily simulated are more likely to be synthesizable into
multiple target technologies and can be archived for later modification and reuse.
VHDL is commonly used to write text models that describe a logic circuit. Such a
model is processed by a synthesis program, only if it is part of the logic design. A
simulation program is used to test the logic design using simulation models to
represent the logic circuits that interface to the design. This collection of simulation
models is commonly called a test bench. We have already mentioned that, we have
used VHDL for our project. VHDL was first developed in 1980 at US, to describe
structure and function of an IC. Then it was adopted and developed by IEEE.
VHDL has mainly four styles for coding:

3.2.1

Dataflow
Behavioral
Structural
Mixed

Advantages

i> The key advantage of VHDL, when used for systems design, is that it allows the
behavior of the required system to be described (modelled) and verified (simulated)
before synthesis tools can translate the design into hardware.

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ii> Another benefit is that VHDL allows the description of a concurrent system.
VHDL is a dataflow language, unlike procedural computing languages such as
BASIC, C, and assembly code, which all run sequentially, one instruction at a time.
iii> VHDL project is multipurpose. Being created once, a calculation block can be
used in many other projects. Also, many formational and functional block parameters
can be tuned (capacity parameters, memory size, element base, block composition and
interconnection structure).
iv> VHDL project is portable. Being created for one element base, a computing device
project can be ported on another element base, for example VLSI with various
technologies.

3.2.2

Benefits of using VHDL

VHDL is a general-purpose programming language optimized for electronic

circuit design. As such, there are many points in the overall design process at which
VHDL can help.
For design specification
This is particularly useful for large projects involving many team members.
Using a top-down approach to design, a system designer may define the interface to
each component in the system, and describe the acceptance requirements of those
components in the form of a high level test bench. The interface definition (typically
expressed as a VHDL entity declaration) and high-level performance specification (the
test bench) can then be passed on to other team members for completion or
refinement.

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For design capture

Design capture is that phase in which the details of the system are entered
(captured) in a computer-based design system. In this phase, design may be expressed
as schematics (either board-level or purely functional) or using VHDL descriptions.
The design capture phase may include tools and design entry methods other than
VHDL. In many cases, design descriptions written in VHDL are combined with other
representations, such as schematics, to form the complete system.
For design simulation
Once entered into a computer-based design system, if someone want to
simulate the operation of the circuit to find out if it will meet the functional and timing
requirements developed during the specification process. If one or more test benches
are created as a part of the design specification, then a simulator is used to apply the
test bench to the design as it is written for synthesis (a functional simulation) and
possibly using the post-synthesis version of the design as well.
For design documentation
The structured programming features of VHDL, coupled with its configuration
management features, make VHDL a natural form in which to document a large and
complex circuit. The value of using a high-level language such as VHDL for design
documentation is pointed out by the fact that the U.S. Department of Defense now
requires VHDL as the standard format for communicating design requirements
between government subcontractors.
As an alternative to schematics
Schematics have long been a part of electronic system design, and it is unlikely
that they will become extinct anytime soon. Schematics have their advantages,
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particularly when used to depict circuitry in block diagram form. For this reason many
VHDL design tools now offer ability to combine schematic and VHDL representations
in a design.

Design Flow in VHDL

In VHDL design flow is composed of 3 steps:

1. Coding
2. Simulation
3. Synthesis

Fig 3.1: Design flow in VHDL

Coding: The phase in which VHDL code is written. Designer may write the code
from scratch or use IDE to make some of the code to be written by wizards.
Simulation: In this phase the prepared VHDL code is tested before downloading to
the FPGA. By simulation possible errors are minimized.
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Synthesis: In this phase, the VHDL code is translated to hardware, i.e. converted to
RTL. This process is carried on by the synthesizers. But if you wish you can do it
manually which would require advanced knowledge and heavy work for large designs.

CHAPTER 4
4-BIT MICROPROCESSOR DESIGN
4.1

Introduction
This chapter gives an insight in to the microprocessor architecture. The goal of

the project is to build a 4-bit processor at logic level and then simulate the processor at
layout level. The very simple 4-bit microprocessor is an updated version of the
popular Simple As Possible (SAP) computer architecture proposed by Albert P
Malvino in 1993 in his famous book Digital Computer Electronics. The Very Simple
Microprocessor (VSM) computer introduces the basic concepts of microprocessor
architecture in the simplest possible way. The VSM is primitive but already quite
complex.
Fig 4.1: VSM basic architecture
Internal Bus

Clock

Controller

Clear

Accumulat
or A
Arithmetic
Unit

Enable signals

Accumulat
or Page
B | 24

Latch signals

Program
Counter

4.2

Function of blocks of VSM

Program
Memory

Input
register

Output
register

4.2.1 Program Counter: A program counter is a register in a computer processor

that contains the address (location) of the instruction being executed at the current
time. As each instruction gets fetched, the program counter increases its stored value
by 1. In most processors, the PC is incremented after fetching an instruction, and
holds the memory address of ("points to") the next instruction that would be executed.
(In a processor where the incrementation precedes the fetch, the PC points to the
current instruction being executed.)
Instructions are usually fetched sequentially from memory, but control
transfer instructions change the sequence by placing a new value in the PC. These
include branches (sometimes called jumps), subroutine calls, and returns. A transfer
that is conditional on the truth of some assertion lets the computer follow a different
sequence under different conditions.
A branch provides that the next instruction is fetched from somewhere else in
memory. A subroutine call not only branches but saves the preceding contents of the
PC somewhere. A return retrieves the saved contents of the PC and places it back in
the PC, resuming sequential execution with the instruction following the subroutine
call.

4.2.2

Program Memory: Program (CODE) memory is read only; it cannot be

written to. Program memory may reside within the 8051 MCU, it may be external, or
it may be both, depending upon the 8051 derivative and the hardware design.
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The 8051 architecture supports up to 64K Bytes of program memory. However,

program space can be expanded using code banking.

Some devices offer a larger code space.

Program code, including all functions and library routines, is stored in program
memory.

Constant variables may also be stored in program memory.

The 8051 executes programs stored in program memory only.

Program memory may be accessed from your C programs using

the code memory type specifier.
Internal data memory resides within the 8051 MCU and is read/write. Up to 256

bytes of internal data memory are available depending upon the 8051 derivative. The
first 128 bytes of internal data memory are both directly and indirectly addressable.
The upper 128 bytes of data memory (from 0x80 to 0xFF) can be addressed only
indirectly (this address space, when accessed directly, is mapped to SFRs). There is
also a 16 byte area starting at 20h that is bit-addressable.
Access to internal data memory is very fast because it can be accessed using an 8bit address. However, internal data memory is limited to a maximum of 256 bytes.
Internal data can be broken down into three distinct memory types: data, idata,
and bdata.

The data memory specifier always refers to the first 128 bytes of internal data
memory. Variables stored here are accessed using direct addressing.

The idata memory specifier refers to all 256 bytes of internal data memory;
however, this memory type specifier code is generated by indirect addressing which
is slower than direct addressing.

The bdata memory specifier refers to the 16 bytes of bit-addressable memory in

the internal data area (20h to 2Fh). This memory type specifier allows you to
declare data types that may also be accessed at the bit level.

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External data memory is read/write. Since external data memory is indirectly

accessed through a data pointer register (which must be loaded with an address), it is
slower than access to internal data memory.
Several 8051 devices provide on-chip XRAM space that is accessed with the same
instructions as the traditional external data space. This XRAM space is typically
enabled via dedicated chip configuration SFR registers and overlaps the external
memory space.
There may be up to 64K Bytes of external data memory; though, this address
space does not necessarily have to be used as memory. Your hardware design may
map peripheral devices into the memory space. If this is the case, your program would
access external data memory to program and control the peripheral. This technique is
referred to as memory-mapped I/O.
The C51 Compiler offers two memory types that access external
data: xdata and pdata.
The xdata memory specifier refers to any location in the 64K Byte address

space of external data memory. The large memory model locates variables in this
memory space.
The pdata memory type specifier refers to exactly one (1) page (256 bytes) of

external data memory. Thecompact memory model locates variables in this memory
space.

4.2.3

Accumulator

In a computer's central processing unit (CPU), an accumulator is a register in

which intermediate arithmetic and logic results are stored.
Without a register like an accumulator, it would be necessary to write the result
of each calculation (addition, multiplication, shift, etc.) to main memory, perhaps only
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to be read right back again for use in the next operation. Access to main memory is
slower than access to a register like the accumulator because the technology used for
the large main memory is slower (but cheaper) than that used for a register. Early
electronic computer systems were often split into two groups, those with accumulators
and those without.
Modern computer systems often have multiple general purpose registers that
operate as accumulators, and the term is no longer as common as it once was.
However, a number of special-purpose processors still use a single accumulator for
their work, in order to simplify their design.
Modern CPUs are typically 2-operand or 3-operand machines. The additional
operands specify which one of many general purpose registers (also called "general
purpose accumulators"[1]) are used as the source and destination for calculations.
These CPUs are not considered "accumulator machines".
The characteristic which distinguishes one register as being the accumulator of
a computer architecture is that the accumulator (if the architecture were to have one)
would be used as an implicit operand for arithmetic instructions. For instance, a CPU
might have an instruction like: ADD memaddress that adds the value read from
memory locationmemaddress to the value in the accumulator, placing the result back
in the accumulator. The accumulator is not identified in the instruction by a register
number; it is implicit in the instruction and no other register can be specified in the
instruction. Some architectures use a particular register as an accumulator in some
instructions, but other instructions use register numbers for explicit operand
specification.

4.2.4

Register
In computer architecture, a processor register is a small amount

of storage available as part of a digital processor, such as a central processing

unit (CPU). Such registers are typically addressed by mechanisms other than main
memory and can be accessed faster. Almost all computers, load-store architecture or
Page | 28

not, load data from a larger memory into registers where it is used for arithmetic,
manipulated or tested by machine instructions. Manipulated data is then often stored
back into main memory, either by the same instruction or a subsequent one. Modern
processors use either static or dynamic RAM as main memory, with the latter usually
accessed via one or more cache levels.
Processor registers are normally at the top of the memory hierarchy, and
provide the fastest way to access data. The term normally refers only to the group of
registers that are directly encoded as part of an instruction, as defined by
the instruction set. However, modern high-performance CPUs often have duplicates of
these "architectural registers" in order to improve performance via register renaming,
allowing parallel and speculative execution. Modern x86 design acquired these
techniques around 1995 with the releases ofPentium Pro, Cyrix 6x86, Nx586,
and AMD K5.
A common property of computer programs is locality of reference, which refers
to accessing the same values repeatedly and holding frequently used values in
registers to improve performance; this is what makes fast registers and caches
meaningful. Allocating frequently used variables to registers can be critical to a
program's performance; thisregister allocation is performed either by a compiler in
the code generation phase, or manually by an assembly language programmer.
Registers are normally measured by the number of bits they can hold, for example, an
"8-bit register" or a "32-bit register". A processor often contains several kinds of
registers, that can be classified according to their content or instructions that operate
on them:
User-accessible registers instructions that can be read or written by machine

instructions. The most common division of user-accessible registers is into data

registers and address registers.

Data registers can hold numeric values such as integer and, in some
architectures, floating-point values, as well as characters, small bit arrays and

Page | 29

other data. In some older and low end CPUs, a special data register, known as
the accumulator, is used implicitly for many operations.
Address registers hold addresses and are used by instructions that

indirectly access primary memory.

Some processors contain registers that may only be used to hold

an address or only to hold numeric values (in some cases used as an index
register whose value is added as an offset from some address); others allow
registers to hold either kind of quantity. A wide variety of
possible addressing modes, used to specify the effective address of an
operand, exist.
The stack pointer is used to manage the run-time stack. Rarely,

other data stacks are addressed by dedicated address registers, see stack
machine.

General purpose registers (GPRs) can store both data and addresses,
i.e., they are combined Data/Address registers and rarely the register file
is unified to include floating point as well.

Conditional registers hold truth values often used to determine whether

some instruction should or should not be executed.

Floating point registers (FPRs) store floating point numbers in many

architectures.

Constant registers hold read-only values such as zero, one, or pi.

Vector registers hold data for vector processing done

by SIMD instructions (Single Instruction, Multiple Data).

Special purpose registers (SPRs) hold program state; they usually

include the program counter, also called the instruction pointer, and the status
register; the program counter and status register might be combined in
a program status word (PSW) register. The aforementioned stack pointer is
Page | 30

sometimes also included in this group. Embedded microprocessors can also

have registers corresponding to specialized hardware elements.
In some architectures, model-specific registers (also called machine-

specific registers) store data and settings related to the processor itself.
Because their meanings are attached to the design of a specific processor, they
cannot be expected to remain standard between processor generations.
Memory Type Range Registers (MTRRs)

Internal registers registers not accessible by instructions, used internally for

processor operations.

Instruction register, holding the instruction currently being executed.

Registers related to fetching information from RAM, a collection of

storage registers located on separate chips from the CPU:

Memory buffer register (MBR)

Memory data register (MDR)

Memory address register (MAR)

Hardware registers are similar, but occur outside CPUs.

In some architectures, such as SPARC and MIPS, the first or last register in the
integer register file is a pseudo-register in a way that it is hardwired to always return
zero when read (mostly to simplify indexing modes), and it cannot be overwritten.
In Alpha this is also done for the floating-point register file. As a result of this, register
files are commonly quoted as having one register more than how many of them are
actually usable; for example, 32 registers are quoted when only 31 of them fit within
the above definition of a register.

4.2.5

Arithmetic Logic Unit

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An arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is a digital circuit used to perform arithmetic

and logic operations. It represents the fundamental building block of the central
processing unit (CPU) of a computer. Modern CPUs contain very powerful and
complex ALUs. In addition to ALUs, modern CPUs contain a control unit (CU). Most
of the operations of a CPU are performed by one or more ALUs, which load data from
input registers. A register is a small amount of storage available as part of a CPU. The
control unit tells the ALU what operation to perform on that data and the ALU stores
the result in an output register. The control unit moves the data between these
registers, the ALU and memory.
An ALU performs basic arithmetic and logic operations. Examples of arithmetic
operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Examples of logic
operations are comparisons of values such as NOT, AND, and OR.
All information in a computer is stored and manipulated in the form of binary
numbers, i.e. 0 and 1.Transistor switches are used to manipulate binary numbers, since
there are only two possible states of a switch: open or closed. An open transistor,
through which there is no current, represents a 0. A closed transistor, through which
there is a current, represents a 1. Operations can be accomplished by connecting
multiple transistors. One transistor can be used to control a second one, in effect
turning the transistor switch on or off depending on the state of the second transistor.
This is referred to as a gate, because the arrangement can be used to allow or stop a
current.
An arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) is the part of a computer processor (CPU) that carries
out arithmetic and logic operations on the operands in computer instruction words. In
some processors, the ALU is divided into two units, an arithmetic unit (AU) and a
logic unit (LU). Some processors contain more than one AU - for example, one
for fixed-point operations and another for floating-point operations. (In personal
computers floating point operations are sometimes done by a floating point unit on a
separate chip called a numeric coprocessor.)

Page | 32

Typically, the ALU has direct input and output access to the processor controller, main
memory (random access memory or RAM in a personal computer), and input/output
devices. Inputs and outputs flow along an electronic path that is called a bus. The
input consists of an instruction word (sometimes called a machine instruction word)
that contains an operation code (sometimes called an "op code"), one or more
operands, and sometimes a format code. The operation code tells the ALU what
operation to perform and the operands are used in the operation. (For example, two
operands might be added together or compared logically.) The format may be
combined with the op code and tells, for example, whether this is a fixed-point or a
floating-point instruction. The output consists of a result that is placed in a
storage register and settings that indicate whether the operation was performed
successfully. (If it isn't, some sort of status will be stored in a permanent place that is
sometimes called the machine status word.)
In general, the ALU includes storage places for input operands, operands that are
being added, the accumulated result (stored in an accumulator), and shifted results.
The flow of bits and the operations performed on them in the subunits of the ALU is
controlled by gated circuits. The gates in these circuits are controlled by a sequence
logic unit that uses a particular algorithm or sequence for each operation code. In the
arithmetic unit, multiplication and division are done by a series of adding or
subtracting and shifting operations. There are several ways to represent negative
numbers. In the logic unit, one of 16 possible logic operations can be performed - such
as comparing two operands and identifying where bits don't match.
The design of the ALU is obviously a critical part of the processor and new
approaches to speeding up instruction handling are continually being developed.

Page | 33

4.3

Instructions Table

INSTRUCTION
MOVA Rd
MOVR Rd
LOAD Mem
LOADI Imm
STORE Mem
JZ Address

OPCODE
0000
0001
0010
0011
0100
0101|0000

JMP Address
ADD Rd
ANDR Rd

0110|0000
0111
1001

INV
SHR
SUB Rd

1011|0000
1010|0000
1000

FUNCTION
Accumulator=Register
Register=Accumulator
Accumulator=Memory
Accumulator=Immediate
Memory=Accumulator
If (Acc==0)
PC=Address //goto address
Else
NOP
//do nothing
PC=Address
Accumulator=Accumulator+Register
Accumulator= Accumulator AND
Register
Accumulator= NOT Accumulator
Accumulator=Accumulator>>1
Accumulator=Accumulator-Register
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HALT

1111|1111

Stop execution

The OPCODE and ADDRESS are both 4 bits wide. This would mean we would have
a datapath that is only 4 bits. This is true. The input of the datapath (Data Memory)
and output is only 4-bits wide. This means the ALU and registers are also 4-bits wide.

CHAPTER 5
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Accumulator:
In a computer's central processing unit (CPU), an accumulator is a register in
which intermediate arithmetic and logic results are stored.
Without a register like an accumulator, it would be necessary to write the result
of each calculation (addition, multiplication, shift, etc.) to main memory, perhaps only
to be read right back again for use in the next operation. Access to main memory is
slower than access to a register like the accumulator because the technology used for
the large main memory is slower (but cheaper) than that used for a register. Early
electronic computer systems were often split into two groups, those with accumulators
and those without.
In this design, we have 3 inputs, namely, rst, clk, input and enb which
are reset, clock, input and enable, respectively and one output.
Page | 35

If we set reset to 1, then output is 0000. Else if clock is set to 1 then the
output is same as that of the input. Otherwise, it remains 0.

The RTL diagram for Accumulator is:

The timing diagram for Accumulator is:

Page | 36

Register:
In computer architecture, a processor register is a small amount
of storage available as part of a digital processor, such as a central processing
unit (CPU). Such registers are typically addressed by mechanisms other than main
memory and can be accessed faster. Almost all computers, load-store architecture or
not, load data from a larger memory into registers where it is used for arithmetic,
manipulated or tested by machine instructions. Manipulated data is then often stored
back into main memory, either by the same instruction or a subsequent one. Modern
processors use either static or dynamic RAM as main memory, with the latter usually
accessed via one or more cache levels.
In this design, we have 5 inputs, namely, reset, clock, input, select and enable and one
output. We have 4 signals, namely, out0, out1, out2 and out3.
When clock event and clock are equal to 1 and enable is equal to 0 then we select
a case using sel.
Page | 37

For example,
when 00 is selected by sel then out0<=input
else
when 00 is selected by sel, then output<=out0.

The RTL schematic diagram for Register is:

Page | 38

The timing diagram for Register is:

Arithmetic Logic Unit

An arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is a digital circuit used to perform arithmetic
and logic operations. It represents the fundamental building block of the central
processing unit (CPU) of a computer. Modern CPUs contain very powerful and
complex ALUs. In addition to ALUs, modern CPUs contain a control unit (CU). Most
of the operations of a CPU are performed by one or more ALUs, which load data from
input registers. A register is a small amount of storage available as part of a CPU. The
control unit tells the ALU what operation to perform on that data and the ALU stores
the result in an output register. The control unit moves the data between these
registers, the ALU and memory.
An ALU performs basic arithmetic and logic operations. Examples of
arithmetic operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Examples
of logic operations are comparisons of values such as NOT, AND, and OR.
Page | 39

Here we have taken four inputs namely, a, b, s and cin and one output.

The RTL diagram of ALU is:

Page | 40

The timing diagram for ALU is:

Page | 41

Microprocessor
The microprocessor is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts
digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and
Page | 42

provides results as output. It is an example of sequential digital logic, as it has internal

memory.
A minimal hypothetical microprocessor might only include an arithmetic logic
unit (ALU) and a control logic section. The ALU performs operations such as
addition, subtraction, and operations such as AND or OR. Each operation of the ALU
sets one or more flags in a status register, which indicate the results of the last
operation (zero value, negative number, overflow, or others). The control logic section
retrieves instruction operation codes from memory, and initiates whatever sequence of
operations of the ALU requires to carry out the instruction. A single operation code
might affect many individual data paths, registers, and other elements of the processor.

The RTL diagram for microprocessor is:

Page | 43

The timing diagram of Microprocessor is:

CHAPTER 6
Page | 44

CONCLUSION
A microprocessor is one of the most exciting technological innovations in
electronics since the appearance of the transistor in 1948. This wonder device has not
only set in the process of revolutionizing the field of digital electronics, but it is also
getting entry into almost every sphere of human life. Applications of microprocessors
range from the very sophisticated process controllers and supervisory control
equipment to simple game machines and even toys. It is, therefore, imperative for
every engineer, specially electronics engineer, to know about microprocessors. Every
designer of electronic products needs to learn how to use microprocessors. Even if he
has no immediate plans to use a microprocessor, he should have knowledge of the
subject so that he can intelligently plan his future projects and can make sound
engineering judgements when the time comes.
The microprocessor or CPU reads each instruction from the memory,
decodes it and executes it. It processes the data as required in the instructions. The
processing is in the form of arithmetic and logical operations. The data is retrieved
from memory or taken from an input device and the result of processing is stored in
the memory or delivered to an appropriate output device, all as per the instructions. To
perform all these functions, the P (microprocessor) incorporates various functional
units in an appropriate manner. Such an internal structure or organizational structure
of P, which determines how it operates, is known as its architecture.

REFERENCES
Page | 45

[1] Douglas L . perry VHDL programming by Example Mc Graw Hill , 4th

Edition.
[2] Nazein M. Botros HDL programming Fundamentals: VHDl & verilog
[3] Volnei A . Pedroni Circuit Design & Simulation with VHDL, 2nd Edition
[4] Brown, Digital Logic with VHDL Design
[5] Stephen Brown;V Zvonko Fundamentals of digital logic with VHDL,Mc
Graw Hill International 2ndEdition,2006
[6] Charles H,Roth,Jr,Digital System Design using VHDL,2nd Edition
[7] Mark Z wolinski, Digital System Design with VHDL Prentice Hall, 2000
[8] Allen Dewey , Analysis and design of Digital System with VHDL, PWS
Publishing Company,2009
[9] Neeraj Jain, VLSI Design and Optimized Implementation of MIPS RISC
Processor Using Xilinx Tool, IJARCSEE, Volume 1, December 2012
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Pradhan ,Control Unit Design Of a 16 Bit processor using VHDL,IJARCSEE,
Volume3,Dec 2013
[11] Prof. S.Kaliamurthy, Ms.U.Sowmmiya, VHDL Design of FPGA
Arithmetic
Processor IEEE, Volume 11, issue 6 Version 1, November 2011.
[12] Shaily Goyal , 16 Bit Microprocessor Design and Simulation in VHDL,
International Journal of Innovative Research & Development,Vol3,
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