Practical Course: ASIPLab

The laboratory teaches the concepts and architectures of specialized processors, the underlying theoretical approaches as well as the acceleration of systems through architecture adaptation using the Cadence LX7 processor as an example.

Upon successful completion of the module, students will be able to,

• understand and apply the concept of application-specific processors
• specialize a basic processor architecture for an example application in the field of driver assistance systems
• evaluate and assess the architecture for different optimization goals (e.g., maximum computing power or minimum power dissipation).

The learning objectives here are:

• Architectural principles of processors and their specialization capabilities.
• Definitions of application-specific instruction set processors such as those of the LX7 processor architecture and their extension possibilities.
• Novel instruction set extensions using the Cadence Xtensa Xplorer and the Cadence LX7 processor, respectively.
• Hardware description language "Tensilica Instruction Extension
• Verification and emulation of processor architectures