1.
ENEL 619.76
EMBEDDED SYSTEM
FINAL PROJECT
ARM ALU
Group Members:
Mohammad Ahmadi
Michael Chen
Yifeng Qiu
Roghoyeh Salmeh
1

2.
Contents
1. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) 3
2. Project Specification 4
3. Logic Units 7
4. Carry Look Ahead Adder 11
5. Multiplier 16
6.Verilog Program 28
7. Simulation Results 30
2

3.
1. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
An arithmetic­logic unit (ALU) is the part of a computer processor (CPU) that carries out
arithmetic and logic operations on the operands in computer instruction words. ALU
performs operations such as addition, subtraction and multiplication of integers and bit­
wise AND, OR, NOT, XOR and other Boolean operations. The CPU's instruction decode
logic determines which particular operation the ALU should perform, the source of the
operands and the destination of the result.
The width in bits of the words which the ALU handles is usually the same as that quoted
for the processor as a whole whereas its external buses may be narrower. Floating­point
operations are usually done by a separate "floating­point unit". Some processors use the
ALU for address calculations (e.g. incrementing the program counter), others have
separate logic for this.
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 floating­point operations. (In personal computers
floating point operations are sometimes done by a floating point unit on a separate chip
called a numeric coprocessor.)
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 fixed­point or a floating­point instruction. The output
consists of a result that is placed in a storage register and settings that indicate whether
3

4.
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.
2. Project Specification
The ALU is designed on a 5­stage pipeline operation. One instruction cycle consists of 5
system clocks. The first system clock is for Fetch Instruction, the second for Instruction
Decoding, the third for Read Operands, the fourth for Execution and the fifth for Write
Back. Because there is 5­stage pipeline operation existing, thus for each system clock, it
is necessary to feed the opcode and data/address (if available) into the ALU module.
Thus, for each Write Back cycle, if there are any output data and address, they will be fed
back onto the output bus. A detailed specification of the ALU is presented at the
following section:
2.1. Specification of the ALU
1. 16­bit register based RISC ALU architecture with 8 general registers
2. 5­stage pipeline operation
4

5.
3. Instructions including signed and unsigned data operation
4. Internal accumulators
5. Condition registers (ZF, CF, SF, OF)
6. Instruction with 1 or 2 operands with internal stack
7. Carry look­ahead algorithm to implement ADD operation
8. Wallace Tree algorithm to implement MUL operation
2.2. Set of the functions
The input signals for ALU module are rst, clk, opcode and data.
rst: reset signal
clk: system clocks
opcode: the instruction operational code, [13:6] for instruction code, [5:3] for register 1
address, [2:0] for register 2 address
data: instruction required data or addresses for ALU module
The output signals for ALU module are output_address, output_data and
pc_counter_address.
output_address: when meeting the external memory storage instructions, the
output_address will output the external memory address
output_data: when meeting the external memory storage instructions, the output_data will
output the data to be stored in the external memory
pc_counter_address: when meeting the jumping instructions, the pc_counter_address will
output the jumping address to inform the external PC
The internal registers are explained as following.
system_stack: ALU internal system stack, which is for PUSH and POP operation
ZF,CF,SF,OF: four flags for arithmetic instruction result
accum: ALU accumulator A
bccum: ALU accumulator B
accum_for_out: to solve the pipeline hazard (read­after­write), this internal register is
5

6.
introduced
General_Register: general purpose registers (AX, BX, CX, DX, EX, FX, GX, HX)
temp_opcode: internal register to temporarily store the instruction code
temp_register1_address: internal register to temporarily store the register 1 address
temp_register2_address: internal register to temporarily store the register 2 address
temp_data: internal register to temporarily store the data/address
temp_operand1_top: internal register to temporarily store the top bit (D16) for arithmetic
operation result
operand_number: record the operand number of instructions
state_number: the status of system clocks
stack_point: internal stack point
jumping_tag: indicate whether the program will need execute jumping operation
first_round: there is 5­stage pipeline operation, and at the beginning of the pipeline
operation, the first round flag register will indicate the beginning status of
the system clocks for operation
HLT_FLAG: if there is a HLT instruction, the HLT FLAG will be set to 1
Carry, G, P: internal registers for carry look­ahead ADD algorithm
i, td, shift: internal registers for control flow and arithmetic operations
The ALU system operations will begin at each positive edge of the system clock. When
there is a rst signal coming, all the internal signals will be cleared and output signals will
be set to High Z status.
The overall structure of the program:
always @(posedge rst or posedge clk)
{
if (rst is active) initialize the system internal registers and output buses
else
{
if (there is the first round pipeline operation) set the status number register
6

7.
else status number register=(status + 1) mod 5
implement the first system cycle operation (Fetch Instruction)
implement the second system cycle operation (determine the operand number)
implement the third system cycle operation (Read Operands)
implement the fourth system cycle operation (Execution)
implement the fifth system cycle operation (Write Back)
}
}
3. Logic Units
3.1. AND
(1) Instruction Format: AND Oprand1 Oprand2
(2) Function: Oprand1 and Oprand2 are two 16_bits register inputs. This operator
performs the bitwise_AND operation, and put the result in Oprand1.
The truth table defines the behavior of each bit operation shown in figure 1­(a). The
circuit symbol is shown in figure 1­(b).
(3) Implementing AND with Verilog HDL:
module ALU_AND(Clk,Operand0,Operand1);
input [15:0] Operand0;
input [15:0] Operand1;
input Clk;
reg[15:0] Operand0;
7

8.
always@(posedge Clk) Operand0 = Operand0 & Operand1;
endmodule
3.2. OR:
(1) Instruction Format: OR Oprand1 Oprand2
(2) Function: Oprand1 and Oprand2 are two 16_bits register inputs. This operator
performs the bitwise_OR operation, and put the result in Oprand1.
The truth table defines the behavior of each bit operation shown in figure 2­(a). The
circuit symbol is shown in figure 2­(b).
(3) Implementing OR with Verilog HDL:
module ALU_OR(Clk, Operand0, Operand1);
input [15:0] Operand0;
input [15:0] Operand1;
input Clk;
reg[15:0] Operand0;
always@(posedge Clk) Operand0 = Operand0 | Operand1;
endmodule
3.3. XOR:
(1) Instruction Format: XOR Oprand1 Oprand2
(2) Function: Oprand1 and Oprand2 are two 16_bits register inputs. This operator
performs the bitwise_XOR operation, and put the result in Oprand1.
The truth table defines the behavior of each bit operation shown in figure 3­(a). The
8

9.
circuit symbol is shown in figure 3­(b).
(3) Implementing XOR with Verilog HDL:
module ALU_XOR(Clk, Operand0, Operand1);
input [15:0] Operand0;
input [15:0] Operand1;
input Clk;
reg[15:0] Operand0;
always@(posedge Clk) Operand0 = Operand0 ^ Operand1;
endmodule
3.4. NOT:
(1) Instruction Format: NOT Oprand1
(2) Function: Oprand1 is a 16_bits register input. This operator performs the
bitwise_NOT operation on Oprand1.
The truth table defines the behavior of each bit operation shown in figure 4­(a). The
circuit symbol is shown in figure 4­(b).
9

10.
(3) Implementing NOT with Verilog HDL:
module ALU_NOT(Clk, Operand0);
input [15:0] Operand0;
input Clk;
reg[15:0] Operand0;
always@(posedge Clk) Operand0 = ~Operand0;
Endmodule
3.5. NEG:
(1) Three different ways of representing signed numbers:
a) Signed magnitude representation: To negate a number by adding an extra sign
bit to the front of our numbers. By convention:
– A 0 sign bit represents a positive number.
– A 1 sign bit represents a negative number.
For example: 01101B = +13 D(a positive number in 5­bit signed magnitude)
1 1101B = ­13 D(a negative number in 5­bit signed magnitude)
b) One’s complement representation: To negate a number by complementing
each bit of the number.
For example: 01101 B= +13D (a positive number in 5­bit one’s complement)
1 0010B= ­13D (a negative number in 5­bit one’s complement)
c) Two’s complement representation: To negate a number, complement each
bit (just as for ones’ complement) and then add 1.
For example: 01101 = +1310 (a positive number in 5­bit two’s complement)
1 0011 = ­1310 (a negative number in 5­bit two’s complement)
10

11.
In this project, we use the third, 2’s complement representation, to represent
signed numbers.
(2) Instruction Format: NEG Oprand1
(3) Function: Oprand1 is a 16_bits register inputs. This operator performs negating
Oprand1, and put the result in Oprand1.
(4) Implementing NEG with Verilog HDL:
module ALU_NEG(Clk, Operand0);
input [15:0] Operand0;
input Clk;
reg [15:0] Operand0;
always@(posedge Clk) Operand0 = ~Operand0 + 1;
endmodule
4. Carry Look Ahead Adder
The sum of two single­bit binary numbers can be formed using the logic gates. If both
bits are zero the sum is zero; the sum of a one and a zero is one, but the sum of two ones
is two, which is represented in binary notation by the two bits '10'. An adder for two
single­bit inputs must therefore have two output bits: a SUM bit with the same weight as
the input bits and a CARRY bit which has twice that weight. An adder for N­bits binary
numbers can be constructed from single­bit adders, but all bits except the first may have
to accept a carry input from the next lower stage. Each bit of the adder produces a sum
and a carry­out from the inputs and the carry­in.
In the 4­bit ripple­carry adder, called so because the result of an addition of two
bits depends on the carry generated by the addition of the previous two bits. Thus, the
Sum of the most significant bit is only available after the carry signal has rippled through
the adder from the least significant stage to the most significant stage. This can be easily
11

12.
understood if one considers the addition of the two 4­bit words: 1 1 1 1 2 + 0 0 0 1 2, as
shown in Fig. 5.
Figure 5. Addition of two 4­bit numbers illustrating the generation of the carry­out bit.
In this case, the addition of (1+1 = 10)2 in the least significant stage causes a carry bit to
be generated. This carry bit will consequently generate another carry bit in the next stage,
and so on, until the final carry­out bit appears at the output. This requires the signal to
travel (ripple) through all the stages of the adder as shown in Fig. 5. As a result, the final
Sum and Carry bits will be valid after a considerable delay. For the schematic of Fig. 5,
the Sum of the most significant stage will be valid after 2(N­1) + 1 gate delays, in which
N is the number of bits. The carry­out bit will be valid after 2N gate delays. This delay
may be in addition to any delays associated with interconnections. It should be mentioned
that in case one implements the circuit in a FPGA, the delays may be different from the
above expression depending on how the logic has been placed in the look up tables and
how it has been divided among different CLBs.
The disadvantage of the ripple­carry adder is that it can get very slow when one needs to
add many bits. In Fig. 6. the delay of the carry bit for a 4 – bit Ripple carry adder is
shown. For instance, for a 32­bit adder, the delay would be about 66 ns if one assumes a
gate delay of 1 ns. That would imply that the maximum frequency one can operate this
adder would be only 15 MHz! For fast applications, a better design is required. The
carry­look­ahead adder solves this problem by calculating the carry signals in advance,
based on the input signals. It is based on the fact that a carry signal will be generated in
12

13.
two cases: (1) when both bits Ai and Bi are 1, or (2) when one of the two bits is 1 and the
carry­in (carry of the previous stage) is 1.
Figure 6. 4 ­ bits Ripple carry adder, showing the delay of the carry bit.
Thus, one can write,
COUT = Ci+1 = Ai . Bi + (Ai ⊕ Bi).Ci. (1)
The “ ⊕ “ stands for exclusive OR or XOR. One can write this expression also, as
Ci+1 = Gi + Pi . Ci (2)
in which,
Gi = Ai . Bi (3)
Pi = (Ai ⊕ Bi) (4)
13

14.
are called the Generate and Propagate term, respectively.
From (2) – (4) it is clear that both the Propagate and Generate terms only depend on the
input bits and thus will be valid after one gate delay. If we use the above expression to
calculate the carry signals, we do not need to wait for the carry to ripple through all the
previous stages to find its proper value. Now if we apply this to a 4­bit adder.
C1 = G0 + P0.C0 (5)
C2 = G1 + P1.C1 = G1 + P1.G0 + P1.P0.C0 (6)
C3 = G2 + P2.G1 + P2.P1.G0 + P2.P1.P0.C0 (7)
C4 = G3 + P3.G2 + P3.P2.G1 + P3P2.P1.G0 + P3P2.P1.P0.C0 (8)
Now it is clear that the carry­out bit, C i+1, of the last stage will be available after three
delays (one delay to calculate the Propagate signal and two delays as a result of the AND
and OR gate). The Sum signal can be calculated as follows,
Si = Ai ⊕ Bi ⊕ Ci = Pi ⊕ Ci (9)
The Sum bit will thus be available after one additional gate delay. The advantage is that
these delays will be the same independent of the number of bits one needs to add, in
contrast to the ripple counter.
The carry­lookahead adder can be broken up in two modules: (A) the Partial Full Adder,
PFA, which generates Si, Pi and Gi as defined by equations 3, 4 and 9 above; and (B) the
Carry Look­ahead Logic, which generates the carry­out bits according to equations 5 to
8. The 4­bit adder can then be built by using 4 PFAs and the Carry Look­ahead logic
block as shown in Fig. 7.
The disadvantage of the carry­lookahead adder is that the carry logic is getting quite
complicated for more than 4 bits. For that reason, carry­look­ahead adders are usually
implemented as 4­bit modules and are used in a hierarchical structure to realize adders
that have multiples of 4 bits. Fig. 8 shows the block diagram for a 16­bit CLA adder. The
14

15.
circuit makes use of the same CLA Logic block as the one used in the 4­bit adder. Notice
that each 4­bit adder provides a group Propagate and Generate Signal, which is used by
the CLA Logic block.
Figure 7. The block diagram of a 4­bit Carry Look Ahead ADDER.
The group Propagate PG of a 4­bit adder will have the following expressions,
PG = P3.P2.P1.P0; (10)
GG = G3 + P3G2 + P3.P2.G1. + P3.P2.P1.G0 (11)
The group Propagate PG and Generate GG will be available after 2 and 3 gate delays,
respectively (one or two additional delays than the Pi and Gi signals, respectively).
15

16.
Figure 8. The block diagram of a 16­bit CLA Adder
5. Wallace Tree Multiplier
At the most basic level, digital multiplication can be seen as a series of bit shifts and bit
additions, where two numbers, the multiplier and the multiplicand are combined into the
final result. Consider the multiplication of two numbers: the multiplier P, and
multiplicand C, where P is an n­bit number with bit representation {pn­1,pn­2,...,p0}, the
most significant bit being pn­1 and the least significant bit being p0; C has a similar bit
representation {cn­1,cn­2,...,c0}. For unsigned multiplication, up to n shifted copies of the
multiplicand are added to form the result. The entire procedure is divided into three steps:
partial product (PP) generation, partial product reduction, and final addition. This is
illustrated conceptually in Figure 9. In order to find a convenient and fast structure for
our multiplier, we should consider various multiplier structures.
16