Lab 8 - Loop Unrolling

The purpose of this lab is to study loop unrolling for both the normal pipelined datapath (1 instruction issued per cycle) and the static multiple-issue datapath (2 instructions issued per cycle).

Loop unrolling can be used for both the normal pipelined datapath and the static multiple-issue datapath. When used for the normal pipelined datapath, the goal is to make the code as fast as possible by avoiding as many stalls as possible. By unrolling the loop, there is more potential for reordering the instructions to avoid stalls after load word and there are fewer instances of the loop test branch instruction. When used for the static multiple-issue datapath, the goal is to avoid as many nop instructions as possible and to minimize the number of cycles needed to complete the loop.

So far, we have only looked at post-test (e.g. do-while) loops for loop reordering and unrolling (this was the style of loops used in both Monday's lecture and the book). In this lab, we'll look at unrolling a pre-test (e.g. a for or while) loop. For purposes of this lab, assume the branch and jump are resolved in the ID stage. Also assume that there is no branch prediction, so we have to stall one cycle after a branch in order to resolve it.

Here is the original loop:

Loop:  beq  $s0, $s1, Exit
       lw   $t0, 0($s0)
       add  $s2, $s2, $t0
       addi $t0, $t0, -5
       sw   $t0, 0($s0)
       addi $s0, $s0, 4
       j    Loop
Exit:

1. Show the original pipeline for two iterations of this loop with NO loop unrolling and NO reordering on the normal pipeline. Your response should be a diagram similar to the solution for HW 4 which shows all the stalls (including those caused by the branch and jump).
2. Unroll the loop once so it contains two iterations. Reorder the code to minimize the number of stalls for the normal pipeline. Show the code once it has been unrolled and reordered.
3. Show the pipeline for the code in Question 2 on the normal pipeline. (Note: This is the "fast execution on the MIPS pipeline" schedule that HW 6 Question 1 asks for)
4. Show the schedule for the static multiple-issue pipeline that uses the unrolled code in Question 2. You may do further reordering to support the multiple-issue pipeline in your response. Clearly indicate the full instruction scheduled in each issue slot if you do reorder for this schedule.