1.1 System Architecture
Input, Process and Output
Input: To send data into a computer.
Process: Makes decisions and calculations.
Output: To transmit from the computer.
What is a computer?
Definitions 3:
How the Processor works: The journey the data takes through a processor.
A computer is a programmable machine.
A computer requires a imput for it to then progress information and then for it to output the information.
A computer is a type of machine. It doesn’t have a brain like us and it can’t think or have ideas, but it can follow stored instructions and do lots of useful things.
DEFINITION: “A Computer is an electronic machine that can solve different problems, process data, store & retrieve data and perform calculations faster and efficiently than humans”.
VON NEUMANN
Von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist and polymath.
MAR
It is a register inside the CPU, which holds the address of the memory location that needs to be accessed to obtain the data at that address.
MDR
The Memory Data Register holds data that is being transferred to or from the memory. It holds anything that is copied from the memory ready for the processor to use it.
PROGRAM COUNTER
A Program Counter is a register in a computer processor that contains the address of the instruction being executed at the current time.
ACCUMULATOR
A hardware register used to hold the results or partial results of arithmetic and logical operations.
- He then goes to the Program Counter and tells him to add 2.
- Then the next instruction tells him to store what’s in the accumulator to go to mailbox 7.
- The input box tells him to add 10.
- Then he sees that 8 and 10 want to be added.
- Program Counter tells them to read the instruction, then goes to the instruction and sees that the instruction tells him to go to the input box.
- So then the accumulator has the number turned to 18.
- So then the accumulator has the number turned to 18.
Definitons 4:
Definitions:
Defintions 2:
ALU
The ALU is a complex digital circuit; one of many components within a computer's central processing unit. It performs both bitwise and mathematical operations on binary numbers and is the last component to perform calculations in the processor.
CU
A CU is a piece of hardware that manages the activities of seperate devices attached to the computer.
CACHE
The CACHE stores recently used information so that it can be quickly accessed at a later time. Computers incorporate several different types of caching in order to run more efficiently, thereby improving performance.
Clock Speed
Cache Size
Number of Cores
Number of Cores = Single Core, Dual Core and Quad Core.
If there were a motorway full of cars it would act the same as their are 3 or 4 lanes just like 3 or 4 cores and can then process the type of traffic, speed of cars and etc.
Factors Affecting =
Clock Speed - measured in Hz; = cycles per second. (referring to fetch, decode, execute process) and (cycle = time between 2).
The processor will be more affected with fast/good clock speed.
A set number of instructions can be executed per clock cycle.
The faster the clock speed the better.
Cache Size
Cache size to speed up the operation of the fetch stage.
Cache Size is a Memory.
Cache is fast and quicker than RAM.
It’s instructions are stored in cache memory as it becomes much quicker.
Stores frequently used instructions in the Cache Memory, so that it can load quicker for next time.
Definitions 1:
CLOCK SPEED
Clock frequency - How often it ticks to complete the fde cycle. During the fde cycle, instructions are processed such as: Wp, STA 7, add and etc. Clock speed is measured in Hertz (Hz). A typical CPU clock might be around 3 gigahertz or 3GHz.. This means that 3 billion instructions can be processed every single second! During each tick of the clock, only 1 instruction can be processed. 1 billion can be done every 3 GHz and every tick of the clock takes place e inside of the CPU. The quicker the processor, means more heat. The motherboard can be damaged if too much heat is made. To keep the temperature of the CPU down, a heat sink is then used.
CACHE SIZE
Cache Size is data storage inside of the CPU that’s much faster than RAM. The Cache is a very fast memory in the CPU. it’s slower than the registers but faster than the RAM. It stores regularly used data so that the CPU can access it quickly the next time it is needed. When the CPU requests data, it checks the cache first to see if the data is still there. If not, it will then fetch more RAM. A larger CPU cache gives the CPU faster access to more data it needs to process.
NUMBER OF CORES
Each core has its own ALU, Control Unit and Registers. A CPU can contain one or more processing units. A quad-core processor is a chip with four independent units called cores that read and execute central processing unit (CPU) instructions such as add, move data, and branch.Most PCs and smartphones have 4 or more cores these days.The more cores a CPU has, the more instructions it can carry out at once, so the faster it can process a batch of data.
Embedded Systems
What is an embedded System? = A Embedded System is a computer built into other devices.
Why’re Embedded Systems needed in Machines? = Embedded Systems are needed because they monitor and control machinery in order to achieve a desired result.
What will happen if an Embedded System goes wrong? = If the Embedded System goes wrong then the equipment itself will very likely stop working and you won’t be able to use it ever again.