Von Neumann Architecture

Lecture by Chamodi Adikaram

for Northshore College of Business & Technology
 Learning Objectives

• Understand the origin of von Neumann Architecture

• Understand von Neumann Architecture

• Understand its components and functionalities

• To be aware of other architectures

 What is an architecture?
• "The complex or carefully designed structure of
something."
I Elhcrnet =nit.'.lli¢n I 3'~¢
module
11 ·pl.l,y
module
,lCO
T ""'
Tr~fonner
300 kVA
•
IOw ~Olt.lg¢
Rtyp:e

........
'Id~*
Cf type
\'O!liilll~

,....,,
<.ondlliOtling

Cuttel\1
,l

-- r·
'"'
Ni, C,omparator -,
Quality petatnetel'9
!)«lcesslng module

,. "5232

dist ID.Ition
p..,nel curreni t'Ol'ld!tioning itJ
"""""" .-,.
circulls • ~~::., THO pfOCA);~SS)g

""''"" limit!!.
- . . _ -:•ux ~
-),

(
View
-1-:,,,-n.
r L
---,.
~
./ 1 -
•I
~.
l

'
( Controller
~Mar.,'p~ffJ.t
I •i<:::
Model J
Early days
•
-
•
•
•
• - -
: "
 Fixed Programs

• They were designed to do very specific operations

• A calculator is a fixed program computer. CASIO

--- ...
• It can do basic mathematics, but it cannot be used as li'3~55'l8
a word processor or a gaming console. OGCDGID

• Changing the program of a fixed-program machine ••••

UBUII
IIDUII
requires rewiring, restructuring, or redesigning the
machine.
uu111
liJDD

• It could take three weeks to set up a program on

ENIAC and get it working.
 Stored Programs

· A stored-programcomputeris one that

stores program instructionsin electronic
memory

• Therefore easily reprogrammable

• Von Neumann is a stored program architecture

(also known as Princeton architecture)
introduced by John von Neumann, a
Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist,
and computer scientist.
Von Neumann Architecture

Central Processing Unit

Control Unit

Arithmetic I Logic Unit

Input -- - Output
Device Device
0~
Registers

0~~
•
,

Memory Unit
 Von Neumann Architecture
cntd I I I

• The basic concept behind the von Neumann architecture is the ability to store program
instructions in memory along with the data on which those instructions operate.

• The von Neumann architecture describes a general framework, or structure, that a

computer's hardware, programming, and data should follow.

• Evan all the most modern computers and mobile devices are designed based on this
fundamental concept.

• It had 3 basic components:

1. VO Interfaces

2. CPU

3. Memory

• Buses (denoted by the arrows) carries the data around

 1/0 Interfaces

• The 1/0 interfaces allow the computer's memory to

receive information and send data to output
devices.

• Allow the computer to communicate to the user and

to secondary storage devices like disk and tape
drives
 Central Processing Unit
• Can be considered the heart of the computing
system

• Includes three main components:

1. Control Unit (CU)

2. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)

3. Registers
 CPU: Control Unit

• Responsible for decoding the instructions and

controlling how data moves around the computer
system

• The execution of each instruction is determined by

a sequence of control signals produced by the
control unit.
CPU: Arithmetic Logic Unit

• Carries out the calculations and logical decisions

required by the program instructions.

• The inputs to an ALU are the data to be operated

on, called operands, and a code indicating the
operation to be performed; the ALU's output is the
result of the performed operation.
 CPU: Registers
• Registers are memory locations with specific purpose

• Accumulator(AC)- Stores the results of calculations made by the ALU

(temporary)

• Program counter (PC)- Keeps track of the location for the next instruction to
be dealt with. The program counter then passes this next address to the
memory address register (MAR)

• Memory Address Register (MAR)- Stores memory location for data or

instructions that needs to be fetched from memory or stored into memory

• Memory Data Register (MDR)- Stores data or instructions fetched from

memory or any data that is to be transferred and stored in memory

• Current InstructionRegister (CIR)- Stores the most recently fetched

instruction while it is waiting to be decoded and executed
 Memory
• The computer's memory is used to store program
instructionsand data.

• Consists of many memory cells (storage units) of a

fixed size. Each cell has an address associated
with it.

• Two of the commonly used type of memories are

RAM (random-access memory) and Secondary
memory
 Memory cntd ...
• Memory width {W)- How many
bits is each memory cell,
(typically one byte =8 bits)

• Address width {N)- How many

bits used to represent each
address

• Address space- the number of

uniquely identifiable memory
locations (2N)
 Advantages of von
Neumann Architecture
• Control Unit gets data and instruction in the same
way from one memory. It simplifies design and
development of the Control Unit.

• Data from memory and from devices are accessed

in the same way.

• Memory organization is in the hands of

program me rs.
 Disadvantages of von
Neumann Architecture
• Serial instruction processing does not allow parallel
execution of program. Parallel executions are
simulated later by the Operating system.

• One bus is a bottleneck. Only one information can

be accessed at the same time.

• Instruction stored in the same memory as the data

can be accidentally rewritten by an error in a
program.
Alternative Architectures
Harvard Architecture

Program Data
CPU
Memory Memory
• ~ >

BUS
~
'

DEVICES

• Memory for data was separated from the memory for instruction.

• Two memories with two Buses allow parallel access to data and instructions.
Execution can be 2x faster.

• But control unit for two Buses is more complicated and more expensive.
 Summary
• Von Neumann architecture is based on stored
programs concept.

• Has 3 main components.

• All modern computers still use this 70 year old

fundamental concept

• Has its own advantages and disadvantages

• Availability of alternative architectures

 References
• University of Oxford
https:Uwww.robots.ox.ac.uk/~dwm/Courses/2CO 2014/2CO-N2.pdf

• University of Texas
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/fussell/cs31 Oh/lectures/Lecture 9-31 Oh. pdf

• University of Victoria
http ://www.ece.uvic.ca/~wlu/Teachi ng/Winter/lecture%20301. pdf

• Southern I Iii nois University

http://www2.cs.siu.edu/~cs401!Iextbook/ch2.pdf

• Technical University of Ostrava

http ://pol i. cs.vsb .cz/edu/apps/eng/p01-archcomp. pdf

• Youtube tutorial
https:Uwww.youtube.com/watch?v=ckDb W72 c