/ Types of pipelines

1. According to the levels of processing, Handler (1977) has proposed the following

3 classification schemefor pipeline processors:

Arithmetic Pipeline :
The arithmetic logic units of acomputercan be segmentized for pipelineoperations in

6 various data formats. Well-known arithmetic pipeline examples are the four-stage
pipesused in Star-100, the eight-stage pipes used in the TI-ASC, the up to 14 pipelines
stages used in theCray-1, and up to 26 stages per pipe in the Cyber-205.
Instruction Pipelining :

0
The execution of a stream of instruction can be pipelined by overlapping theexecution of
the current instruction with the fetch, decode, and operand fetch of subsequentinstruction.
This technique is also known as instruction lookahead. Almost all high-
performancecomputers are now equipped with instruction-execution pipelines.
Processor Pipelining :
This refers to the pipeline processing of the same data stream by a cascadeof processors,
each of which processes a specific task. The data stream passes the
firstprocessorwithresults stored in a memory block which is also accessible by the second

M
processor. The secondprocessor then passes the refined results to the third, and so on. The
pipelining of multiple processorsis not yet well aecepted as a common practice.According
to pipeline configurations and controlstrategies, Ramamooorthy and Li (1977)
haveproposed the following three pipeline classification schemes:

o
Unifunction Vs. Multifunction Pipelines :
A pipeline unit with a fixed and dedicated function, suchas the floating-point adder is called
unifunctional. The Cray-1 has 12 unifunctional pipeline units forvarious scalar, vector,
fixed-point, and floating-point operations. A multifunction pipe may performdifferent

d
subsets of stages in the pipeline. The TI-ASC. has four multifunction pipeline
processors,each of which is reconfigurable for a variety of arithmetic logic operations at
different times
Static Vs. Dynamic Pipelines:

e
A static pipeline may assume only one functional configuration at atime. Static pipelines
can be either unifunctional or multi-functional. Pipelining is made possible instatic pipes
only if instructions of the same type are to be executed continuously. The
functionperformed by a static pipeline should not change frequently. Otherwise, its
performance may be verylow. A dynamic pipeline processor permits several functional

l configurations to exist simultaneously. Inthis sense, a dynamic pipeline must be

multifunctional. On the other hand, a unifunctional pipe mustbe static. The dynamic
configuration needs much more elaborate control and sequencing mechanismsthan those
for static pipelines. Most existing computers are equipped with static pipes,
eitherunifunctional or multifunctional.
Scalar Vs. Vector Pipelines :
Depending on the instruction or data types, pipeline processors can be
also classified as scalar pipelines and vector pipelines. A scalar pipeline processes a

9
sequence of scalar
operands under the control of DO gh loop. Instructions in a small DO loop are
often prefetched into the
instruction buffer. The required scalar operands for repeated scalar instructions

1
are moved into a data
cache in order to continuously supply the pipeline with operands. The IBM
typical example of a machine equipped with scalar pipelines. However, the
Model 91 does not have a cache.
Vector pipelines are specially designed to handle vector instructions over
vector operands. Computers having vector instructions are often called vector
processors. The design of a vector pipeline is expended from that of a scalar
pipeline.The handling of vector operands in vector pipelines is
underfirmwareand hardware controls (rather than undersoftwarecontrols as in
scalar pipelines.

2. Computer processor pipelining is sometimes divided into an

instruction pipeline and an arithmetic pipeline

3. Types of pipelines

In general, pipelines can be classified in three categories depending on purpose:

1. Gathering pipelines These are smaller interconnected pipelines forming complex
networks with the purpose of bringing crude oil or natural gas from several
nearby wells to a treatment plant or processing facility. In this group, pipelines are
usually short - a couple of hundred meters - and with small diameters. Also sub-
sea pipelines for collecting product from deep water production platforms are
considered gathering systems.

2. Transportation pipelines Mainly long pipes with large diameters, moving

products (oil, gas, refined products) between cities, countries and even continents.
These transportation networks include several compressor stations in gas lines or
pump stations for crude and multiproducts pipelines.

3. Distribution pipelines Composed of several interconnected pipelines with small

diameters, used to take the products to the final consumer. Feeder
lines to distribute gas to homes and businesses downstream, also pipelines at
terminals for distributing products to tanks and storage facilities are included in this
group.
Beverage pipelines
Bars in the Veltins-Arena, a major football ground in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, are
interconnected by a 5 km long beer pipeline. It is the favourite method for
distributing beer in such large stadiums because the bars have to overcome big
differences between demands during various stages of a match; this allows them to be
supplied by a central tank.