Memory refreshMemory refresh is the process of periodically reading information from an area of computer memory and immediately rewriting the read information to the same area without modification, for the purpose of preserving the information. Memory refresh is a background maintenance process required during the operation of semiconductor dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), the most widely used type of computer memory, and in fact is the defining characteristic of this class of memory.
Types of artificial neural networksThere are many types of artificial neural networks (ANN). Artificial neural networks are computational models inspired by biological neural networks, and are used to approximate functions that are generally unknown. Particularly, they are inspired by the behaviour of neurons and the electrical signals they convey between input (such as from the eyes or nerve endings in the hand), processing, and output from the brain (such as reacting to light, touch, or heat). The way neurons semantically communicate is an area of ongoing research.
Silicon compilerA silicon compiler is a electronic design automation software tool that is used for high-level synthesis of integrated circuits. Such tool takes a user's specification of a IC design as input and automatically generates an integrated circuit (IC) design files as output for further fabrication by the seminconductor fabrication plant or manually from discrete components. The process is sometimes referred to as hardware compilation. The silicon compiler may use vendor's Process Design Kit for the production.
MicrocodeIn processor design, microcode serves as an intermediary layer situated between the central processing unit (CPU) hardware and the programmer-visible instruction set architecture of a computer. It consists of a set of hardware-level instructions that implement higher-level machine code instructions or control internal finite-state machine sequencing in many digital processing components. While microcode is utilized in general-purpose CPUs in contemporary desktops, it also functions as a fallback path for scenarios that the faster hardwired control unit is unable to manage.
Comparison of EDA softwareThis page is a comparison of electronic design automation (EDA) software which is used today to design the near totality of electronic devices. Modern electronic devices are too complex to be designed without the help of a computer. Electronic devices may consist of integrated circuits (ICs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or a combination of them. Integrated circuits may consist of a combination of digital and analog circuits.
Machine codeIn computer programming, machine code is computer code consisting of machine language instructions, which are used to control a computer's central processing unit (CPU). Although decimal computers were once common, the contemporary marketplace is dominated by binary computers; for those computers, machine code is "the binary representation of a computer program which is actually read and interpreted by the computer. A program in machine code consists of a sequence of machine instructions (possibly interspersed with data).
Soviet space programThe Soviet space program (Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR) was the national space program of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), active from 1955 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Soviet investigations in rocketry began with the formation of a research laboratory in 1921, but these efforts were hampered by the devastating war with Germany.
Chinese space programThe space program of the People's Republic of China is about the activities in outer space conducted and directed by the People's Republic of China. It involves the capacity to enter and return from space and ability to engage in space exploration, utilization and governance. The technological roots of the Chinese space program trace back to the 1950s, when, with the help of the newly allied Soviet Union, China began development of its first ballistic missile and rocket programs in response to the perceived American (and, later, Soviet) threats.
DatapathA data path is a collection of functional units such as arithmetic logic units (ALUs) or multipliers that perform data processing operations, registers, and buses. Along with the control unit it composes the central processing unit (CPU). A larger data path can be made by joining more than one data paths using multiplexers. A data path is the ALU, the set of registers, and the CPU's internal bus(es) that allow data to flow between them. The simplest design for a CPU uses one common internal bus.
General-purpose input/outputA general-purpose input/output (GPIO) is an uncommitted digital signal pin on an integrated circuit or electronic circuit (e.g. MCUs/MPUs) board which may be used as an input or output, or both, and is controllable by software. GPIOs have no predefined purpose and are unused by default. If used, the purpose and behavior of a GPIO is defined and implemented by the designer of higher assembly-level circuitry: the circuit board designer in the case of integrated circuit GPIOs, or system integrator in the case of board-level GPIOs.