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Chapter 4 Vector Processors
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Introduction
Typical operations on array-oriented data One or more vectors ==> a scalar result two vectors ==> a vector a scalar and a vector ==> a vector a combination of the above three
operations
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Introduction(continued)
Three architectures suitable for the vector processing environments pipelined vector processors parallel array processors systolic array architectures
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Introduction (continued)
Pipelined vector processors They utilize one or more pipelined ALUs
to achieve high computation throughput.Parallel array processors
They adopt a multiplicity of CPUs that operate on elements of arrays in parallel.
Systolic array architectures They use extensive pipelining and
parallel processing.
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Introductions(continued)
Vector processors are supercomputers optimized for fast execution of long groups of vectorizable scientific code.
Vector processors are extensively pipelined architectures designed to operate on array-oriented data.
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4.1 Vector Processor Models
Figure 4.1 shows a vector computational model. Start-up time: the number of clock
cycles required prior to the generation of the first result.
The time to complete N-element vector operation in a pipeline
Start-up time + (N-1) X Initiation rate
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4.1 Vector Processor Models (continued)
Note that the start-up time adds a considerable overhead for small value of N and the effect of start-up time is negligible for large value of N.
Example 4.1
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4.1 Vector Processor Models (continued)
Memory-Oriented Vector Processor (Figure 4.2) versus Register-Oriented Vector Processor (Figure 4.3)
The characteristics of vector processors contributing to the high performance High-speed memory A large number of registers Instruction set Multiplicity of overlapped processing levels
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4.2 Memory Design Considerations
Memory bandwidth the average number of words that can be
accessed from the memory per second.
Memory bandwidth must match the demand of multiple pipelined vector processors.
Memory system configuration the number of memory modules bus width addressing decoding structure
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4.2 Memory Design Considerations(cont.)
Memory module characteristics Size Access time Cycle time
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Example 4.2
Consider a vector processor with four 32-bit floating point processors, each requiring two 32-bit operands every clock cycle and producing one 32-bit result. Assume that one 32-bit instruction is fetched for each arithmetic operation. Total traffic per cycle? If the memory cycle time is 1.28s and the
processor cycle time is 40 ns, how can we match the demand?
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4.2 Memory Design Considerations(con.)
How to match the demand rate between memory system and processors. Configuring with multiple memory modules
allowing simultaneous access (Figure 4.4) Inserting fast intermediate memories
.
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Example 4.3
Ci = Ai + Bi, 1 i N Figure 4.5 shows the data structure in a
memory system with 8 modules. Figure 4.6 shows the reservation table
for the addition using a 3-stage pipelined adder and memory with 8 modules. 1 delay on A
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Example 4.4
An architecture with a 6-modules memory, 3-stage pipelined adder, memory access time equivalent to two processor cycle times. Figure 4.7 shows the reservation table.
3 delays in A3 delays on output
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Example 4.5
C[I] = A[I] + b[I], 1 I N Assume N=64 and vector register length =64 The time unit for floating point addition is six clock
periods. Including one clock period for transferring data from vector registers to additional unit and one clock cycle period to store the result into another vector register.
In scalar mode: 64x8=512 clock periods In vector mode: 8+63 = 71 clock periods If N < 64? If N > 64?
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4.2 Memory Design Considerations(con.)
Figure 4.8 shows the general structure of the vector processor with delay elements inserted in the input and output.
A common method of further increasing the memory system bandwidth is to insert high speed intermediate memory between main memory and the processor pipeline.
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4.3 Architecture of the Cray Series
Cray X-MP/4(Figure 4.9): successor of Cray-1 Memory: is built out of several sections,
each divided into banks.25 to 100 Gbps4 portsMemory conflict solution may require wait
states to be insertedSolid state device is used as an exceptional fast
access disk devices.
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4.3 Architecture of the Cray Series(continued)
Cray X-MP/4(Figure 4.9) Processor interconnection
The interconnection of CPUs assumed a coarse-grained multiprocessing environment.
Central Processor(Figure 4.10)Each CPU is a register-oriented vector processor.Table 4.1 shows the functional unit characteristics.Strip miningChaining
Cray Y-MP, Cray-3, Cray-4
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4.4 Two Other Architectures
Convex C series From FPS(Floating-Point Systems, Inc.) C1, C2, C3 Figure 4.15 shows the architecture of
Convex C120 system FPS 5000 Series
Figure 4.18 shows the FPS 5000 Series architecture.
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4.5 Performance Evaluation
Major characteristics to affect supercomputer architecture Clock speed Instruction issue rate Size and number of registers Memory size Number of concurrent paths to memory Ability to fetch/store vectors efficiently Number of duplicate arithmetic functional units Whether function can be chained together Indirect addressing capability Handling of conditional blocks of code
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4.5 Performance Evaluation(continued)
The sustained performance depends on the following factors: Level of vectorization Average vector length Possibility of vector chaining Overlap of scalar, vector, memory
load/store operations possible Memory contention resolution mechanism
adopted.
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4.5 Performance Evaluation(continued)
The Amdal’s law Speed-up =
where s is the ratio the speed of the vector unit to that of scalar unit.
The execution time of a vector loop with N element, TN = Tmemory + (N-1) Tcycle, where Tmemory is the time to initialize starting address for each vector.,, ,
R = , where F is the floating-point operation included in the loop
sff /)1(
1
iterationcyclesclock
rateclockFN /_
_lim
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4.6 Programming Vector Processors
Programming facilities Development of programming facilities Development of compiler
In general, it is not possible to completely vectorize a sequential program.
In general, an algorithm that is considered efficient for scalar computation need not be efficient for a vector environment. Modifications are then needed to take advantage of the vector hardware.
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4.6 Programming Vector Processors(continued)
Several techniques adopted by vector processor environment: Scalar renaming Scalar expansion Loop unrolling Loop fusion or jamming Loop distribution Force maximum work into inner loop Subprogram in-lining Eliminate ambiguity using the PARAMETER statement Positioning frequently executed scalar conditional
block first