Due to the way Xilinx wires their FPGA chips, functional complexity runs left<->right (with some exeptions), and bit depth repetition runs top<->bottom, with the LSB at bottom and MSB at top.

I have placed the data path at the bottom of the chip, using rows 000F..017G. The 36 times repeated indentical functions appear as vertical (column/slice) lines.

Above these 36 rows appear the control circuits that tell the data path what function it is to do in the present step of execution. They are placed in the same column as the part of the data path that they control.

Relative to the 3rd milestone I have now got the visualisation tool and have seen the results of its use. As consequence I have improved the font used for commenting. The same new font is used by the tool for the addresses.

The actual Data Path Elements

000L+000R "N"+"2": Numbering Data Bits, 1st and 2nd digit

To make reading the graphic easier I have added PDP-10 style bit numbering of the data path bits 0..35. Stuff without numbers is control circuits. This remains the same as in the 3rd milestone

001L+001R "M": (Test) Memory of 32 words

Here the logic elements are used as 16bit RAMs, in pairs to give 32 words space. Always an F and G LUT pair are one bits memory (this is one of the complexity left<->right exeptions), giving only space for 1 bit per 2 rows, so alternating bits need to be zigzagged between 2 columns, bits 35,33,31,..,1 in column 000R and 34,32,30,..,0 in 001R. There is no vertical stripe of identical patterns, as memory content varies for each bit. There is no "2" as these are one dual-column and not 2 separate columns. This section remains the same as in the 3rd milestone

002L "F": Fast Memory of 16 words

This memory is used for addresses 000..017 (the accumulators), while the above 001L+001R memory was moved from 000..037 to 020..057. This is done to later enable parallel reads, and also to allow replacing the test memory with larger but slower BRAM or chip external memory. It also gives us presentlx 16 words more space for test programs. This remains the same as in the 3rd milestone

002R "R": Memory Data Read Multiplexer

This is used to select whether data is taken from memory or fast memory. It is driven by an address decoder to switch the selction. This remains the same as in the 3rd milestone

003R+003R "A": Memory Address Multiplexer

This selects the source to take the current memory address from, to select an word. Possible selections are: program counter (PC), memory address register (MA), instruction register X or AC field (IR.X or IR.AC). Here also 2 logic elements are required per bit, so there are also 2 columns. Only 000F..008G are used, as PDP-10 addresses are only 18bit wide. 000F..001G differ from the rest because for bits 35..32 the IR.X or IR.AC can be used, while for 31..0 an 0 is inserted (extension of 4bit addresses to 18bit). Relative to the 3rd milestone this section has been totally reworked for simpler and more readable code

004L "P": Program Counter (PC)

This is a 18bit (only 000F..008G) register (invisible) that stores and provides the memory address for fetching the next instruction (1 word of 36 bits). Visible is the logic for generating the next instruction address. This is a adder for calculating nextPC = oldPC+1 and a multiplexer for selecting the adder ("normal": use next instruction and "skip" 2 times next instruction) or the MA register ("jump": use address in instruction). This remaines the same as in the 3rd milestone

004R "I": Instruction and Memory Address Registers (IR+MA)

These are 2 (invisible) 18bit registers and their visible loading logic, that are loaded with the 2 halves of the current instruction. MA (000F..008G) gets the Y address part (bits 35..18) and can be after modified by index additions and indirect address loads. IR (009F..017G) gets the actual instruction (bits 17..0). Of IR the bottom 4 bits (17..14) are IR.X, which gets deleted after index calculation and reloaded on index dereferrence, so they require different logic. The next bit (13) is IR.I , which only gets reloaded on index dereferrence, requiring yet different logic. The large control circuits section at the top is the basic state machine for driving the load, index, indirect, execute cycle. This remaines the same as in the 3rd milestone

005L "O": Memory Operand Register (MO)

This is a 36bit register (invisible) and its visible loading "logic" (actually non-logic as it simply passes trough data from memory). This register is used by instructions that take 2 memory operands as input, to hold the first loaded memory word while the second loaded memory word is being fetched. This remaines the same as in the 3rd milestone, but renamed from arithmetic reg (which it is not since 2nd milestone) to MO which is its actual function today

005R "I": Immediate Multiplexer

This selects where some instructions take one of their operands from. Possible selections are: MA register (zero extended, which gives the visible 18/18 spilt), or the AR temporary register (which has in it the first memory word, addressed by MA, from the last time step). This part is used for all instructions which have Memory and Immediate variants. This remaines the same as in the 3rd milestone

006L-007R "W": Memory Data Write Multiplexer

This selects where to take data from, to write to memory. Because each instruction unit has its own arithmetic register (AR), this is needed to select which of the 8 instruction groups ARs can send data to memory. This is a large 8-input multiplexer, so it takes up 4 logic elements per data bit. This remaines the same as in the 3rd milestone

008L+008R "A"+"2": Arithmetic Testing Instruction Unit

This implements the 011tttmmm arithmetic testing instructions. There are 2 entirely different logic elements per bit. 008L "A" does the actual arithmetic (Acc-Mem|Immed for CAM|CAI, Acc|Mem-0 for JUMP|SKIP, Acc|Mem+1 for AOJ|AOS, Acc|Mem-1 for SOJ|SOS). 008R "2" compares the arithmetic result with zero for testing for the E/LE/N/G jump/skip conditions. The 008R "2" control section is the circuit to do the condition evaluation. This remaines the same as in the 3rd milestone

009L+009R "L": Boolean Logic Instruction Unit

This implements the 100ffffmm boolean logic instructions. These 16 instructions (SET*, AND*, XOR, IOR, EQV, ORC*) all work by providing a pattern of 4 bits (ffff) and having the 2 data bits select from them. This is done by an 4-input multiplexer realised in 2 logic elements/columns. The 4 modes (Basic, Immediate, Memory, Both) are just different memory address selections, which are done by the control logic above this column. This remaines the same as in the 3rd milestone

010L+011L "H"+"2"+"3": Half Word Instruction Unit

This implements the 101tootmm half word instructions. There are 3 entirely different logic elements per bit. 010L "H" swaps the 2 half words for HRL* and HLR* instructions. 010R "2" generates the unchanged/zero/one/extend values for the non-target half. 011L "3" selects which of the above 2 are used for which half word. This remaines the same as in the 3rd milestone

011R+012R "B"+"2"+"3": Bit Testing Instruction Unit

This implements the 110ooamma bit testing instructions. There are 3 entirely different logic elements per bit. 011R "B" swaps the 2 half words of the test pattern for TL* and TS*. 012L "2" is the logic unit for the nothing/zero/complement/one modifications. 012R "3" is the actual bitwise pattern masking test and comparison of the result with zero for the E/N skip conditions. The 012R "3" control section is the circuit to do the condition evaluation. This remaines the same as in the 3rd milestone, apart from fixing an wiring bug

047R: Revision Text

This allows identifying the design from its picture. It lists Filename - Author - Compile Date - Target Chip. This remaines the same as in the 3rd milestone, apart from fixing "missing mnemonic" inconsistency

This page is by Neil Franklin, last modification 2002.11.13