AMULET2e: An Asynchronous Embedded Controller

S. B. Furber, J. D. Garside, S. Temple, J. Liu, P. Day, N. C. Paver.

Abstract

AMULET1 demonstrated the feasibility of building an asynchronous implementation of the ARM microprocessor. Although functional, this first asynchronous ARM microprocessor did not fully exploit the potential of the asynchronous design style to deliver improved performance and power consumption.

This paper describes AMULET2e, an embedded system chip incorporating an enhanced asynchronous ARM core (AMULET2), a 4 Kbyte pipelined cache, a flexible memory interface and assorted programmable control functions. AMULET2e silicon demonstrates competitive performance and power-efficiency, ease of design, and innovative features that exploit its asynchronous operation to advantage in power-sensitive applications.