Tomasulo's algorithm is a computer architecture hardware algorithm for dynamic scheduling of instructions that allows out-of-order execution and enables more efficient use of multiple execution units. It was developed by Robert Tomasulo at IBM in 1967 and was first implemented in the IBM System/360 Model 91's floating point unit.

Implementation concepts

thumb|right|700px|Tomasulo's floating point unit

The following are the concepts necessary to the implementation of Tomasulo's algorithm:

Common data bus

The Common Data Bus (CDB) connects reservation stations directly to functional units. According to Tomasulo it "preserves precedence while encouraging concurrency". This has two important effects:

  1. Functional units can access the result of any operation without involving a floating-point-register, allowing multiple units waiting on a result to proceed without waiting to resolve contention for access to register file read ports.
  2. Hazard Detection and control execution are distributed. The reservation stations control when an instruction can execute, rather than a single dedicated hazard unit.

Instruction order

Instructions are issued sequentially so that the effects of a sequence of instructions, such as exceptions raised by these instructions, occur in the same order as they would on an in-order processor, regardless of the fact that they are being executed out-of-order (i.e. non-sequentially).

Register renaming

Tomasulo's algorithm uses register renaming to correctly perform out-of-order execution. All general-purpose and reservation station registers hold either a real value or a placeholder value. If a real value is unavailable to a destination register during the issue stage, a placeholder value is initially used. The placeholder value is a tag indicating which reservation station will produce the real value. When the unit finishes and broadcasts the result on the CDB, the placeholder will be replaced with the real value.

Each functional unit has a single reservation station. Reservation stations hold information needed to execute a single instruction, including the operation and the operands. The functional unit begins processing when it is free and when all source operands needed for an instruction are real.

Exceptions

Practically speaking, there may be exceptions for which not enough status information about an exception is available, in which case the processor may raise a special exception, called an imprecise exception. Imprecise exceptions cannot occur in in-order implementations, as processor state is changed only in program order (see ).

Programs that experience precise exceptions, where the specific instruction that took the exception can be determined, can restart or re-execute at the point of the exception. However, those that experience imprecise exceptions generally cannot restart or re-execute, as the system cannot determine the specific instruction that took the exception.

Instruction lifecycle

The three stages listed below are the stages through which each instruction passes from the time it is issued to the time its execution is complete.

Legend

  • RS - Reservation Status
  • RegisterStat - Register Status; contains information about the registers.
  • regs[x] - Value of register x
  • Mem[A] - Value of memory at address A
  • rd - destination register number
  • rs, rt - source register numbers
  • imm - sign extended immediate field
  • r - reservation station or buffer that the instruction is assigned to

Reservation Station Fields

  • Op - represents the operation being performed on operands
  • Qj, Qk - the reservation station that will produce the relevant source operand (0 indicates the value is in Vj, Vk)
  • Vj, Vk - the value of the source operands
  • A - used to hold the memory address information for a load or store
  • Busy - 1 if occupied, 0 if not occupied

Register Status Fields

  • Qi - the reservation station whose result should be stored in this register (if blank or 0, no values are destined for this register)

Stage 1: issue

In the issue stage, instructions are issued for execution if all operands and reservation stations are ready or else they are stalled. Registers are renamed in this step, eliminating WAR and WAW hazards.

  • Retrieve the next instruction from the head of the instruction queue. If the instruction operands are currently in the registers, then
  • If a matching functional unit is available, issue the instruction.
  • Else, as there is no available functional unit, stall the instruction until a station or buffer is free.
  • Otherwise, we can assume the operands are not in the registers, and so use virtual values. The functional unit must calculate the real value to keep track of the functional units that produce the operand.

{|class="wikitable"

|+ Pseudocode

|-

!Instruction state

!Wait until

!Action or bookkeeping

|-

|FP operation

|Station empty

|<syntaxhighlight lang="c">

if (RegisterStat[rs].Qi¦0) {

RS[r].Qj ← RegisterStat[rs].Qi

}

else {

RS[r].Vj ← Regs[rs];

RS[r].Qj ← 0;

}

if (RegisterStat[rt].Qi¦0) {

RS[r].Qk ← RegisterStat[rt].Qi;

}

else {

RS[r].Vk ← Regs[rt];

RS[r].Qk ← 0;

}

RS[r].Busy ← yes;

RegisterStat[rd].Qi ← r;

</syntaxhighlight>

|-

|Load or Store

|Buffer empty

|<syntaxhighlight lang="c">

if (RegisterStat[rs].Qi¦0) {

RS[r].Qj ← RegisterStat[rs].Qi;

}

else {

RS[r].Vj ← Regs[rs];

RS[r].Qj ← 0;

}

RS[r].A ← imm;

RS[r].Busy ← yes;

</syntaxhighlight>

|-

|Load only

|

|<syntaxhighlight lang="c">

RegisterStat[rt].Qi ← r;

</syntaxhighlight>

|-

|Store only

|

|<syntaxhighlight lang="c">

if (RegisterStat[rt].Qi¦0) {

RS[r].Qk ← RegisterStat[rt].Qi;

}

else {

RS[r].Vk ← Regs[rt];

RS[r].Qk ← 0

};

</syntaxhighlight>

|}

thumb|Example of Tomasulo's algorithm

Stage 2: execute

In the execute stage, the instruction operations are carried out. Instructions are delayed in this step until all of their operands are available, eliminating RAW hazards. Program correctness is maintained through effective address calculation to prevent hazards through memory.

  • If one or more of the operands is not yet available then: wait for operand to become available on the CDB.
  • When all operands are available, then: if the instruction is a load or store
  • Compute the effective address when the base register is available, and place it in the load/store buffer
  • If the instruction is a load then: execute as soon as the memory unit is available
  • Else, if the instruction is a store then: wait for the value to be stored before sending it to the memory unit
  • Else, the instruction is an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) operation then: execute the instruction at the corresponding functional unit

{|class="wikitable"

|+ Pseudocode

See also

  • Re-order buffer (ROB)
  • Instruction-level parallelism (ILP)

References

Further reading

  • HASE Java applet simulation of the Tomasulo's algorithm