The BRISC-V platform: A practical teaching approach for computer architecture

Rashmi Agrawal, Sahan Bandara, Alan Ehret, Mihailo Isakov, Miguel Mark, Michel A. Kinsy

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Computer architecture lies at the intersection of electrical engineering, digital design, compiler design, programming language theory and high-performance computing. It is considered a foundational segment of an electrical and computer engineering education. RISC-V is a new and open ISA that is gaining significant traction in academia. Despite it being used extensively in research, more RISC-V-based tools need to be developed in order for RISC-V to gain greater adoption in computer organization and computer architecture classes. To that end, we present the BRISC-V Platform, a design space exploration tool which offers: (1) a web-based RISC-V simulator, which compiles C and executes assembly within the browser, and (2) a web-based generator of fully-synthesizable, highly-modular and parametrizable hardware systems with support for different types of cores, caches, and network-on-chip topologies. We illustrate how we use these tools in teaching computer organization and computer architecture classes, and describe the structure of these classes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Workshop on Computer Architecture Education, WCAE 2019
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
ISBN (Electronic)9781450368421
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 22 2019
Externally publishedYes
Event2019 Workshop on Computer Architecture Education, WCAE 2019 - Phoenix, United States
Duration: Jun 22 2019 → …

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Workshop on Computer Architecture Education, WCAE 2019

Conference

Conference2019 Workshop on Computer Architecture Education, WCAE 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPhoenix
Period6/22/19 → …

Keywords

  • Computer architecture
  • Computer organization
  • Generator
  • Risc-v
  • Simulator
  • Verilog

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Education

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