Abstract

This paper describes a computer architecture, Spatial Computation (SC), which is based on the translation of high-level language programs directly into hardware structures. SC program implementations are completely distributed, with no centralized control. SC circuits are optimized for wires at the expense of computation units. In this paper we investigate a particular implementation of SC: ASH (Application-Specific Hardware). Under the assumption that computation is cheaper than communication, ASH replicates computation units to simplify interconnect, building a system which uses very simple, completely dedicated communication channels. As a consequence, communication on the datapath never requires arbitration; the only arbitration required is for accessing memory. ASH relies on very simple hardware primitives, using no associative structures, no multiported register files, no scheduling logic, no broadcast, and no clocks. As a consequence, ASH hardware is fast and extremely power efficient.

Citations