New processor accelerates computation by up to 50 times

New RISC-V core design with smart memory controller dramatically speeds up calculations and significantly reduces energy consumption

Blueshift Memory has released a RISC-V processor reference design that addresses the twin problems facing today's computing industry: the Memory Wall and the Energy Wall.

Depending on the application and computing language, the BlueFive processor reference design reaches between five times and 50 times faster-benchmarked calculation speed. The innovative CPU design also saves between 50% and 65% energy consumption by decreasing unnecessary data movement.

The design is based on an open-source RISC-V core from the OpenHW Group. The CPU design integrates the company's Yonder smart cache and BlueBlaze intelligent memory controller to manage the data actively, lowering memory-to-CPU latency to zero, accelerating calculations, and saving energy.

"The hardware was initially created under our successful Innovation UK Smart grant project, and it has since been refined as a reference design for a standalone processor. We are creating the software environment for this CPU with TensorFlow, Redis and C/C++ libraries, which will also make it accessible for Python," said Peter Marosan, founder and CTO of Blueshift Memory.

"Our CPU design has been validated in FPGA using the industry-standard STREAM benchmark, as well as with real-life applications like computer vision AI and the Redis in-memory database," said Dr Sarmad Adeel, senior embedded systems engineer at Blueshift Memory.

The company's award-winning non-Von Neumann computer architecture works best when integrated into the memory and the CPU, but its innovative memory controller technology still shows significant benefits in combination with either of these components alone.

"Our design is already validated on hardware, unlike other CPU solutions that aim to accelerate calculation or offer only simulated results. It specifically addresses the Memory Wall – the fundamental problem that memory technology has fallen behind processor advances and is holding back progress," said Helen Duncan, CEO of Blueshift Memory. "We are already working with a commercial partner who will be a channel for our RISC-V solution. We are additionally making this reference design available for other customers to use, to create their own high-efficiency CPU designs."

"We are collaborating with a manufacturer in SE Asia as well to create a Blueshift Memory-enabled high bandwidth memory chip, and we will make a further announcement about this very soon," said Peter Marosan.