UNIT 3 REGISTER TRANSFER LANGUAGE (RTL)

Micro-Operations:
The operations executed on data stored in registers are called micro-operations. A micro-
operation is an elementary operation performed on the information stored in one or more
registers.
Example: Shift, count, clear and load.
Types of Micro-Operations:
The micro-operations in digital computers are of 4 types:
1. Register transfer micro-operations transfer binary information from one register to
another.
2. Arithmetic micro-operations perform arithmetic operations on numeric data stored in
registers.
3. Logic micro-operations perform bit manipulation operation on non-numeric data
stored in registers.
4. Shift micro-operations perform shift micro-operations performed on data.
Arithmetic Micro-Operations:
Some of the basic micro-operations are addition, subtraction, increment and decrement.
1. Add Micro-Operation
It is defined by the following statement: R3 → R1 + R2
The above statement instructs the data or contents of register R1 to be added to data or
content of register R2 and the sum should be transferred to register R3.
2. Subtract Micro-Operation
Let us again take an example: R3 → R1 + R2' + 1
In subtract micro-operation, instead of using minus operator we take 1's compliment and add
1 to the register which gets subtracted, i.e. R1 - R2 is equivalent to R3 → R1 + R2' + 1
3. Increment/Decrement Micro-Operation
Increment and decrement micro-operations are generally performed by adding and
subtracting 1 to and from the register respectively.
R1 → R1 + 1
R1 → R1 – 1
Symbolic Designation Description
R3 ← R1 + R2 Contents of R1+R2 transferred to R3.

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 R3 ← R1 - R2 Contents of R1-R2 transferred to R3.
R2 ← (R2)' Compliment the contents of R2.
R2 ← (R2)' + 1 2's compliment the contents of R2.
R3 ← R1 + (R2)' + 1 R1 + the 2's compliment of R2 (subtraction).
R1 ← R1 + 1 Increment the contents of R1 by 1.
R1 ← R1 - 1 Decrement the contents of R1 by 1.
Logic Micro-Operations:
These are binary micro-operations performed on the bits stored in the registers. These
operations consider each bit separately and treat them as binary variables.
Let us consider the X-OR micro-operation with the contents of two registers R1 and R2.
P: R1 ← R1 X-OR R2
In the above statement we have also included a Control Function.
Assume that each register has 3 bits. Let the content of R1 be 010 and R2 be 100. The X-OR
micro-operation will be:

Shift Micro-Operations
These are used for serial transfer of data. That means we can shift the contents of the register
to the left or right. In the shift left operation the serial input transfers a bit to the right most
position and in shift right operation the serial input transfers a bit to the left most position.
There are three types of shifts as follows:
a) Logical Shift
It transfers 0 through the serial input. The symbol "shl" is used for logical shift left
and "shr" is used for logical shift right.
R1 ← she R1
R1 ← she R1
The register symbol must be same on both sides of arrows.
b) Circular Shift

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This circulates or rotates the bits of register around the two ends without any loss of data or
contents. In this, the serial output of the shift register is connected to its serial
input. "cil" and "cir" is used for circular shift left and right respectively.
c) Arithmetic Shift
This shifts a signed binary number to left or right. An arithmetic shift left multiplies a
signed binary number by 2 and shift left divides the number by 2. Arithmetic shift micro-
operation leaves the sign bit unchanged because the signed number remains same when it is
multiplied or divided by 2.

Arithmetic Logical Unit:

Instead of having individual registers performing the micro-operations, computer system
provides a number of registers connected to a common unit called as Arithmetic Logical Unit
(ALU). ALU is the main and one of the most important unit inisde CPU of computer. All the
logical and mathematical operations of computer are performed here. The contents of specific
register is placed in the in the input of ALU. ALU performs the given operation and then
transfer it to the destination register.

In symbolic notation, it is used to describe the micro-operations transfer among registers. It is

a kind of intermediate representation (IR) that is very close to assembly language, such as
that which is used in a compiler. The term “Register Transfer” can perform micro-operations
and transfer the result of operation to the same or other register.

Register Transfer Language:

A digital computer system exhibits an interconnection of digital modules such as registers,
decoders, arithmetic elements, and Control logic.
These digital modules are interconnected with some common data and control paths to form a
complete digital system. Moreover, digital modules are best defined by the registers and the
operations that are performed on the data stored in them.

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The operations performed on the data stored in registers are called Micro-operations.
The internal hardware organization of a digital system is best defined by specifying:
o The set of registers and the flow of data between them.
o The sequence of micro-operations performed on the data which are stored in the
registers.
o The control paths that initiates the sequence of micro-operation

The Register Transfer Language is the symbolic representation of notations used to specify
the sequence of micro-operations.

In a computer system, data transfer takes place between processor registers and memory and
between processor registers and input-output systems. These data transfer can be represented
by standard notations given below:
o Notations R0, R1, R2..., and so on represent processor registers.

o The addresses of memory locations are represented by names such as LOC, PLACE,
MEM, etc.

o Input-output registers are represented by names such as DATA IN, DATA OUT and
so on.
o The content of register or memory location is denoted by placing square brackets
around the name of the register or memory location
Register Transfer:
The information transformed from one register to another register is represented in symbolic
form by replacement operator is called Register Transfer. The term Register Transfer refers to
the availability of hardware logic circuits that can perform a given micro-operation and
transfer the result of the operation to the same or another register.

Most of the standard notations used for specifying operations on various registers are stated
below.

o The memory address register is designated by MAR.

o Program Counter PC holds the next instruction's address.

o Instruction Register IR holds the instruction being executed.

o R1 (Processor Register).

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 o We can also indicate individual bits by placing them in parenthesis. For instance, PC
(8-15), R2 (5), etc.

o Data Transfer from one register to another register is represented in symbolic form by
means of replacement operator. For instance, the following statement denotes a
transfer of the data of register R1 into register R2.
1. R2 ← R1
o Typically, most of the users want the transfer to occur only in a predetermined control
condition. This can be shown by following if-then statement:
If (P=1) then (R2 ← R1); Here P is a control signal generated in the control section.
o It is more convenient to specify a control function (P) by separating the control
variables from the register transfer operation. For instance, the following statement
defines the data transfer operation under a specific control function (P).
1. P: R2 ← R1

The following image shows the block diagram that depicts the transfer of data from R1 to R2.

Hardware Description Language:

HDL stands for Hardware Description Language. It is a programming language that is
used to describe, simulate, and create hardware like digital circuits (ICS). HDL is mainly
used to discover the faults in the design before implementing it in the hardware.
The main advantage of HDLs is that it provides flexible modeling capabilities and can
express the large complex designs (>107 gates).

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VHDL:
VHDL stands for Very High-Speed Integration Circuit HDL (Hardware Description
Language). It is an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) standard hardware
description language that is used to describe and simulate the behavior of complex digital
circuits.
The most popular examples of VHDL are Odd Parity Generator, Pulse Generator,
Priority Encoder, Behavioral Model for 16 words, 8bit RAM, etc.
VHDL supports the following features:
o Design methodologies and their features.
o Sequential and concurrent activities.
o Design exchange
o Standardization
o Documentation
o Readability
o Large-scale design
o A wide range of descriptive capability

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