AN ADA-BASED REAL-TIME REDUCED INSTRUCTION SET COMPUTER (RISC) MICROPROCESSOR

AN IMPORTANT CLASS OF COMPUTER APPLICATIONS HAS THUS FAR EVADED EXTENSIVE ARCHITECTURAL ANALYSIS AND DESIGN--REAL-TIME SYSTEMS. IN PARTICULAR, REAL-TIME MICROPROCESSOR ARCHITECTURES HAVE NOT BEEN DEVELOPED AS PARTOF LARGER, INTEGRATED SYSTEMS BASED ON HIGHER LEVEL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES. REDUCED INSTRUCTION SET COMPUTER (RISC) ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY HAS DEMONSTRATED ITS EFFECTIVENESS AS A MEANS OF CONSTRUCTING COST-EFFECTIVE HIGH-PERFORMANCE PROCESSORS, AND HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY SPECIALIZED TO SUPPORT SPECIFIC PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES. THE ADA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE HAS BEEN DESIGNED TO SERVE REAL-TIME, EMBEDDED APPLICATIONS, AND HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED ON A NUMBER OF PROCESSORS. IN THIS PHASE I EFFORT, THE RESEARCHERS PROPOSE TO EXAMINE CURRENT RISC MICROPROCESSORS AND MEASURE EXISTING ADA IMPLEMENTATIONS, WITH THE INTERMEDIATE (I.E., PHASE II) GOAL OF DETERMINING WHAT HARDWARE SUPPORT, IF ANY, COULD SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE ADA REAL-TIME PERFORMANCE AND WITH THE ULTIMATE (I.E. PHASE III)GOAL OF DEVELOPING A RISC MICROPROCESSOR FOR ADA, IF FEASIBLE.