Are RISCs ready for real-time control?

Journal Article · Sun Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1996 · InTech

OSTI ID:525881

Taylor, C E ^[1]; Schroeder, R N ^[2]

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1. Law Engineering & Environmental Services, Inc., Kennesaw, GA (United States)
2. Southern Polytechnic State Univ., Marietta, GA (United States)

Many would argue that the future of computing lies in automation and that the computer industry`s fastest-growing segment is real-time applications: robotics, machine vision, process controls, automated manufacturing, instrumentation, and other related fields. These technologies seem to require greater and greater computational capabilities with each control strategy refinement. There appear to be two major forces pushing real-time systems into the next generations: their need for artificial intelligence capabilities and the rapid advance in hardware. Will reduced instruction set computers (RISCs) meet the needs of the next generation. Since the introduction of the million instructions per second (MIPS) R2000 in 1987, RISC architectures have been well known for increased computing power and throughput. For real-time applications, early RISC systems were high in cost compared with complex instruction set computers (CISCs). Until now, the cost of RISCs has been restrictive. However, with mass production of RISC microprocessor chips such as the Power PC series, costs have dropped to new lows, and newer, more powerful RISC-based microprocessor chips continue to be released. RISC processors offer very fast throughput, on the order of 20 to 60 MPS or more. However, critics of RISCs for real-time applications point to the very architectural features that improve average execution time: pipelines, caches, and large register sets. These features actually can lead to uncertainty in timing and impair a real-time system`s predictability. Some say the future of RISCs in real-time applications is on trial and the jury is still out. 5 refs., 2 figs.

• OSTI ID: 525881
• Journal Information: InTech, Journal Name: InTech Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 43; ISSN 0192-303X; ISSN INTCDD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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