TOWARD A THEORY OF

COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE With Applications to Microprogramming & Virtualization

Charles Mutigwe

cmutigwe@ieee.org

The Michael L. Gargano

10th Annual Research Day

Friday, May 4th, 2012

INTRODUCTION

• Why do we need a computer

architecture model (CAM)?

• Requirements of proposed CAM:

– Fidelity

– Accessibility

– Extensibility

KEY TERMS

• Computer Architecture

– Instruction Set Architecture (ISA)

– Microarchitecture / Computer

Organization

• Reconfigurable Computing

COMPUTING MACHINE MODELS

CAM OVERVIEW

Computing

Object =

Program

Resources

Data

DEVELOPING THE MODEL

• Simple Model

• General Model

Program-Resources Relation

Resources-Data Relation

Simple Model

General Model

Example:

General Model – Example (cont.)

APPLICATIONS

• The Process

• Virtualization Example

How to Use the Model

• Describe an entire system, or

• Describe an optimized component – “Plug” component model into system model

0 1 2

Warnier-Orr Diagram

Level

Virtualization Example

Simulation:

Virtualization:

Virtualization Example (cont.)

VM supports

multiple OS

environments

on the same

hardware –

Smith & Nair [7]

QUESTIONS?