Coursebooks

Advanced computer architecture

CS-470

Lecturer(s) :

Language:

English

Summary

The course studies the most important techniques to exploit Instruction-Level Parallelism and discusses the relation with the critical phases of compilation. It also analyses emerging classes of processors for complex single-chip systems.

Content

Pushing processor performance to its limits:

Principles of Instruction Level Parallelism (ILP).
Register renaming techniques.
Prediction and speculation.
Simultaneous multithreading.
VLIW and compiler techniques for ILP.
Dynamic binary translation.

Embedded processors:

Specificities over stand-alone processors.
Overview of DSPs and related compilation challenges.
Configurable and customisable processors.
Basic notions of High-Level Synthesis.

Keywords

Processors, Instruction Level Parallelism, Systems-on-Chip, Embedded Systems.

Learning Prerequisites

Required courses

Architecture des ordinateurs.

Recommended courses

Architecture des systèmes-on-chip.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

Design strategies to exploit instruction level parallelism in processors.
Contrast static and dynamic techniques for instruction level parallelism.
Design effective processor (micro-)architectures for which efficient compilers can be written.

Teaching methods

Courses, labs, and compulsory homeworks.

Assessment methods

Final oral exam.

Supervision

Office hours	No
Assistants	Yes
Forum	Yes

Resources

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)

Bibliography

John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson, Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, Morgan Kaufman, 6th edition, 2017.

Ressources en bibliothèque

Computer Architecture / Hennessy

Moodle Link

https://moodle.epfl.ch/course/view.php?id=15017

In the programs

Computer Science, 2019-2020, Master semester 2
- Semester
  Spring
- Exam form
  Oral
- Credits
  4
- Subject examined
  Advanced computer architecture
- Lecture
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Project
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
Computer Science, 2019-2020, Master semester 4
- Semester
  Spring
- Exam form
  Oral
- Credits
  4
- Subject examined
  Advanced computer architecture
- Lecture
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Project
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
Communication Systems - master program, 2019-2020, Master semester 2
- Semester
  Spring
- Exam form
  Oral
- Credits
  4
- Subject examined
  Advanced computer architecture
- Lecture
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Project
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
Communication Systems - master program, 2019-2020, Master semester 4
- Semester
  Spring
- Exam form
  Oral
- Credits
  4
- Subject examined
  Advanced computer architecture
- Lecture
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Project
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
Computer Science - Cybersecurity, 2019-2020, Master semester 2
- Semester
  Spring
- Exam form
  Oral
- Credits
  4
- Subject examined
  Advanced computer architecture
- Lecture
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Project
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
Computer Science - Cybersecurity, 2019-2020, Master semester 4
- Semester
  Spring
- Exam form
  Oral
- Credits
  4
- Subject examined
  Advanced computer architecture
- Lecture
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Project
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
Electrical and Electronics Engineering, 2019-2020, Master semester 2
- Semester
  Spring
- Exam form
  Oral
- Credits
  4
- Subject examined
  Advanced computer architecture
- Lecture
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Project
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
Electrical and Electronics Engineering, 2019-2020, Master semester 4
- Semester
  Spring
- Exam form
  Oral
- Credits
  4
- Subject examined
  Advanced computer architecture
- Lecture
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Project
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
Computer science minor, 2019-2020, Spring semester
- Semester
  Spring
- Exam form
  Oral
- Credits
  4
- Subject examined
  Advanced computer architecture
- Lecture
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Project
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
Cyber security minor, 2019-2020, Spring semester
- Semester
  Spring
- Exam form
  Oral
- Credits
  4
- Subject examined
  Advanced computer architecture
- Lecture
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Project
  2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks

Reference week

	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr
8-9
9-10
10-11
11-12
12-13
13-14
14-15
15-16
16-17
17-18
18-19
19-20
20-21
21-22

Under construction

Lecture

Exercise, TP

Project, other

legend

Autumn semester
Winter sessions
Spring semester
Summer sessions

Lecture in French
Lecture in English
Lecture in German