Logically Determined Design: Clockless System Design with NULL Convention Logic

CHAPTER 13

Interacting Pipeline Structures

A logically determined system is a structure of pipelines. Once the logical behavior is determined, the next question is the performance of the system in terms of through-put. How do pipelines interact to affect throughput, and how can pipeline structures be designed to achieve optimal throughput? Given the dynamic behavior of the cycles and pipelines, one might think that an intuitive understanding of the behavior of and design of a multi-pipeline structure would be impossible. The only approach to the reliable design of multi-pipeline structures would seem to be through complex mathematical network and queueing theories supplemented with detailed simulation studies.

It is possible, however, to characterize the behavior of a multi-pipeline structure solely in terms of static relationships. These static relationships are easily understandable and are sufficient to support precise synthesis of pipeline structures with optimal performance. The principles of the static synthesis of multiple-pipeline structures will be presented with several examples. This chapter will cover the basics of two-pipeline structures. The next chapter will show how to construct complex pipeline structures in terms of two-pipeline structures.

A two-pipeline structure ...