RISC-V Processors Lecture 7– Part I: Understanding RISC-V Architecture

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Questions and Answers

What is the main goal for defining RISC-V?

To develop an ISA optimized for a specific microarchitecture style

To create an open ISA freely available to academia and industry (correct)

To develop an ISA suitable for simulation and binary translation only

To create a new Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) for academic use only

What was RISC-V originally defined to support?

Support for education and research in Computer Architecture (correct)

Support for network security protocols

Support for software development in embedded systems

Support for computer hardware manufacturing

Why has RISC-V grown into an open standard and architecture for the industry?

Due to its highly restricted and specialized use cases

Due to its limited availability for academia only

Because the industry has adopted it as a free standard and open architecture (correct)

Because it supports only a specific microarchitecture style

What does RISC-V aim to avoid in its Instruction Set Architecture (ISA)?

Avoid over-architecting for a particular microarchitecture style Signup and view all the answers

Which document enumerates the goals for defining RISC-V?

Technical Report UCB/EECS-2014-54 Signup and view all the answers

What type of implementation is RISC-V suitable for?

Any native hardware implementation, not just simulation or binary translation Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the 'small base integer ISA' in RISC-V architecture?

To serve as a base for customized accelerators Signup and view all the answers

What does the term 'accelerator' refer to in the context of RISC-V hardware platform terminology?

A unit that is attached to a RISC-V core and operates autonomously Signup and view all the answers

Why does the RISC-V specification avoid defining implementation details as much as possible?

To be a software-visible interface to a wide variety of hardware implementations Signup and view all the answers

What is the benefit of optional variable-length instructions in RISC-V architecture?

To expand available instruction decoding space Signup and view all the answers

What does the term 'coprocessor' refer to in the context of RISC-V hardware platform terminology?

A unit mostly sequenced by a RISC-V instruction stream but contains additional architectural state and extensions Signup and view all the answers

Why does a RISC-V core support multiple hardware threads?

To support multithreading Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the 'classic privileged' features in RISC-V specification?

To define the privileged features of RISC-V Signup and view all the answers

What feature does a RISC-V core with additional specialized instruction-set extensions or an added coprocessor have?

Limited autonomy relative to the primary RISC-V instruction stream Signup and view all the answers

Why is the RISC-V ISA considered as a software-visible interface to a wide variety of hardware implementations?

Due to its avoidance of defining specific hardware implementations Signup and view all the answers

What is a component termed if it contains an independent instruction fetch unit in a RISC-V hardware platform?

'RISC-V-compatible core' Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

RISC-V is a new Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) that was originally developed for education and research in Computer Architecture, but has since grown into a free standard and open architecture used by industry.
Goals for defining RISC-V include: a completely open ISA, a real ISA for native hardware implementation, avoidance of over-architecting, support for both 32-bit and 64-bit address spaces, extensive user-level ISA extensions, and a fully virtualizable ISA.
The RISC-V specification is a software-visible interface to various hardware implementations, divided into two volumes: one for the "base unprivileged" instructions and one for the "classic privileged" features.
A RISC-V hardware platform may contain one or more RISC-V-compatible cores, other non-RISC-V cores, fixed-function accelerators, physical memory structures, I/O devices, and an interconnect structure.
A RISC-V core may have additional specialized instruction-set extensions or a coprocessor, which is a unit attached to a RISC-V core that contains additional architectural state and instruction-set extensions and has some limited autonomy.
The term accelerator refers to a non-programmable fixed-function unit or a core that can operate autonomously.

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Description

This quiz covers the basics of RISC-V architecture, including terminology, instruction set, processors, and tools for building applications. It is part of the CENG507 lecture series and aims to help students understand the fundamentals of RISC-V.