Since the birth of computer technology in our country, the design of high-performance systems has been considered as one of the most important goals of Russian science. Since the 90s, research has been associated with a fundamentally new condition - the need to carry out new developments based on Russian microprocessors. As a result, Elbrus was created - a processor that is not inferior to the best foreign models in its computing power.
History of creation
Currently, only a few countries around the world are designing computers using microprocessors of their own design - in the United States, England, Japan and China. Obviously, in the framework of security and import substitution, Russia also needs its own processor, sufficient to meet the requirements of the armed forces, law enforcement agencies, government and education. And if possible - and commercialization of the product. After decades of active work, scientists and engineers at the Moscow Center for Spark Technologies (MCST) are not ashamed to present the latest development of 2014-15: the eight-core Elbrus 8s processor. But before this historical event, a long path of theoretical calculations and practical research was covered.
In the USSR, the work of Academician S. A. Lebedev was of outstanding importance in the formation and development of computer technology. At the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computing Engineering (ITM and VT), which he leads at the Academy of Sciences, fifteen models of electronic computers were created - from the first, vacuum-tube, to high-speed machines on integrated circuits.
"Elbrus-1"
The idea of an architectural line, subsequently incorporated into the Russian Elbrus processor, was born in 1969. The reason for the development was the need for "intellectualization" of strategic systems. The chief designer was V. S. Burtsev, an outstanding specialist in computer technology, later an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In 1979, the first generation of the Elbrus multiprocessor computing complex (MVC) was presented at ITM and VT of the state commission. The processor was designed based on TTL logic. The system was used in the military industry.
"Elbrus-2"
Six years later, the second generation of the Elbrus MVK successfully passed the test. The processor and the new element base were completely domestic development. The system was based on high-speed integrated circuits with emitter-coupled logic of the IS-100 series. The performance of Elbrus-2 in a ten-processor configuration was 125 million operations per second.
MVK was built on a modular basis with increased reliability. Due to its speed and fault tolerance, the complex has been used for many years in key objects of strategic systems. The MVK characteristics unique for that time were achieved by the introduction and development of a number of advanced ideas in the organization of the computing process.
"Elbrus-3"
The next stage (1986-1994) was the creation of the third generation MVK Elbrus. The processor has become even more powerful, the elemental base has become more advanced. Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences B. A. Babayan was chosen as the project manager. By the way, he made a fundamental contribution to the development of the Elbrus-1 and Elbrus-2 MVK.
Assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the superscalar architecture he developed, implemented in the second generation of the MVK, Boris Artashesovich suggested a more advanced implementation of the concept of a broad command word. Before the collapse of the Union, experts managed to collect a prototype, but the new authorities stopped funding in the future.
Latest time
The continuation of this project line is connected with the activities of the MCST. In its structure, leading domestic microelectronics engineers, having made a principled bet on the use of microprocessor technologies, proceeded to create two series of microprocessors and computer complexes based on them. These works subsequently allowed the creation of a powerful Russian processor Elbrus 2014 release.
The design basis for the first series was the open architecture Scalable Processor Architecture (SPARC), specified by Sun Microsystems. Based on it, processors of the "R" family were created.
The basis of the second series was the original Elbrus architecture, developing the principles that were tested and incorporated into the MVK-3 (originally it was called the “E2k architecture”). In total, four main types of processors were created. So, "Elbrus" (processor): a comparison of the models is shown in the table below.
| R150 | R500 | R500s | R1000 |
Year of creation | 2001 | 2004 | 2007 | 2011 |
Clock frequency | 150 MHz | 500 MHz | 500 MHz | 1000 MHz |
Process technology | 350nm | 130nm | 130nm | 90nm |
Number of Cores | one | one | 2 | four |
Performance | 150MF | 500MF | 1GF | 16GF |
| Elbrus-3M1 | Elbrus-S | Elbrus-2C + | Elbrus-4C |
Year of creation | 2005 | 2010 | 2011 | 2014 |
Clock frequency | 300 MHz | 500 MHz | 500 MHz | 800 MHz |
Process technology | 130nm | 90nm | 90nm | 65nm |
Number of Cores | one | one | 2+ | four |
Performance | 4.8Gf | 8 gf | 28gf | 50gf |
Elbrus-4s
One of the last successful developments of the MCST company was the Elbrus-4s processor. Its architecture is based on an original development, based on the VLIW microarchitecture. 4 cores of 800 MHz are responsible for the calculation processes, 2 MB cache on each core.
Despite the seemingly archaic in terms of production technology (large size, low frequency, the technological process of the “last century” 65 nm), the efficiency of the electronic device is comparable to Intel processors “i”. With less power consumption (45 W), its performance is up to 50 GFlops. For comparison: the older model Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition has a performance of 53 GFlops at much higher frequencies and power consumption. This modern Russian Elbrus processor of 2014 has passed the required tests and entered the series.
Elbrus-8S
It seems that the time of evolution has ended, the time has come for a revolutionary breakthrough for domestic microelectronics. CJSC “MCST” together with the Institute of Electronic Control Machines developed and produced engineering samples of a new generation product. The Elbrus 8s processor is being prepared for industrial production. It is being created using the 28-nanometer process technology.
The device will work in tandem with the controller also domestic development KPI-2. Although the controller is still being manufactured using the 65 nm process technology, it supports three gigabit Ethernet network controllers, 20 PCI-Express 2.0 bus lines, eight USB 2.0 ports, and eight SATA ports. Data exchange with the processor is 16 Gb / s.
Specifications
The manufacturer revealed the main characteristics of the latest Elbrus system:
- Processor - 8 cores without hypertreading.
- The area of the crystal is 350 mm 2 .
- The cache of the second level for each core is 512 Sq.
- Layer 3 cache is shared - 16 MB.
- Execution per cycle - 30 operations.
- The clock frequency is 1.3 GHz, with these parameters uninterrupted operation of all cores is guaranteed for an unlimited time, even with one hundred percent load.
- Performance (peak) - 250 Gflops.
- Power - 60-90 watts.
- Licensed independence from Intel, while providing support for major operating systems with x86 / x86-64 architecture.
As you can see, the Russian Elbrus processor of the latest generation is five times more productive than the 4C model.
Architecture
As the most important result, the company MCST developed the original Elbrus microprocessor architecture. The processor is focused on obtaining maximum performance indicators for these hardware resources. In the general classification, it belongs to the category of architectures that use the VLIW (Very Large Instruction Word) principle, when the compiler generates for parallel execution sequences of groups of commands (wide command words) in which there are no dependencies between teams within a group and dependencies are minimized between teams in different groups.
Thus, the Russian Elbrus processor to a high degree uses the parallelism at the level of operations present in this program code. As a result, high architectural speed is achieved due to the release of equipment from the parallelization functions inherent in superscalar architectures, and their transfer to the optimizing compiler. This also led to another important feature inherent in the Elbrus architecture - the low energy consumption of the equipment.
Along with the effective use of parallelism of operations, the Elbrus device architecture also implements the implementation of other types (levels) of parallelism inherent in the computing process:
- parallelism of tasks in multi-machine complexes;
- concurrency of control flows on shared memory;
- vector concurrency.
X86 architecture compatibility
As a fundamental requirement for architecture, the developers initially considered ensuring effective binary compatibility with the dominant architecture of the Intel x86 microprocessor . It is implemented on the basis of covert dynamic translation and its support in the equipment of the Elbrus microprocessor. Also, the defining properties of the new Russian architecture include the developed hardware support for secure computing (modular programming), which greatly facilitates the work of programmers when creating large software systems with limited execution time.
Practical use
Where is it planned to use Russian processors? It must be understood that this product is being developed for the sole purpose of providing micro-electronics and computer technology that is self-sufficient, independent of supplies and licensing. Computers on the Elbrus processor with an increased level of security and protection against computer viruses are in demand in the military industry, in security services, and important state institutions.
Meanwhile, the system allows you to install familiar Windows and Linux, which opens the way, if not to the ordinary consumer, then to the corporate sector. MCST offers secure computers and servers that can operate in adverse environments.