Energy minimisation for processor cores using variable supply voltages

Author(s):  
M.T. Schmitz
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (109) ◽  
pp. 21-31
Author(s):  
І. Ya. Zeleneva ◽  
Т. V. Golub ◽  
T. S. Diachuk ◽  
А. Ye. Didenko

The purpose of these studies is to develop an effective structure and internal functional blocks of a digital computing device – an adder, that performs addition and subtraction operations on floating- point numbers presented in IEEE Std 754TM-2008 format. To improve the characteristics of the adder, the circuit uses conveying, that is, division into levels, each of which performs a specific action on numbers. This allows you to perform addition / subtraction operations on several numbers at the same time, which increas- es the performance of calculations, and also makes the adder suitable for use in modern synchronous cir- cuits. Each block of the conveyor structure of the adder on FPGA is synthesized as a separate project of a digital functional unit, and thus, the overall task is divided into separate subtasks, which facilitates experi- mental testing and phased debugging of the entire device. Experimental studies were performed using EDA Quartus II. The developed circuit was modeled on FPGAs of the Stratix III and Cyclone III family. An ana- logue of the developed circuit was a functionally similar device from Altera. A comparative analysis is made and reasoned conclusions are drawn that the performance improvement is achieved due to the conveyor structure of the adder. Implementation of arithmetic over the floating-point numbers on programmable logic integrated cir- cuits, in particular on FPGA, has such advantages as flexibility of use and low production costs, and also provides the opportunity to solve problems for which there are no ready-made solutions in the form of stand- ard devices presented on the market. The developed adder has a wide scope, since most modern computing devices need to process floating-point numbers. The proposed conveyor model of the adder is quite simple to implement on the FPGA and can be an alternative to using built-in multipliers and processor cores in cases where the complex functionality of these devices is redundant for a specific task.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Kiverstein ◽  
Matt Sims

AbstractA mark of the cognitive should allow us to specify theoretical principles for demarcating cognitive from non-cognitive causes of behaviour in organisms. Specific criteria are required to settle the question of when in the evolution of life cognition first emerged. An answer to this question should however avoid two pitfalls. It should avoid overintellectualising the minds of other organisms, ascribing to them cognitive capacities for which they have no need given the lives they lead within the niches they inhabit. But equally it should do justice to the remarkable flexibility and adaptiveness that can be observed in the behaviour of microorganisms that do not have a nervous system. We should resist seeking non-cognitive explanations of behaviour simply because an organism fails to exhibit human-like feats of thinking, reasoning and problem-solving. We will show how Karl Friston’s Free-Energy Principle (FEP) can serve as the basis for a mark of the cognitive that avoids the twin pitfalls of overintellectualising or underestimating the cognitive achievements of evolutionarily primitive organisms. The FEP purports to describe principles of organisation that any organism must instantiate if it is to remain well-adapted to its environment. Living systems from plants and microorganisms all the way up to humans act in ways that tend in the long run to minimise free energy. If the FEP provides a mark of the cognitive, as we will argue it does, it mandates that cognition should indeed be ascribed to plants, microorganisms and other organisms that lack a nervous system.


Author(s):  
J. Jovic ◽  
S. Yakoushkin ◽  
L. Murillo ◽  
J. Eusse ◽  
R. Leupers ◽  
...  

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