11.

5 THE SHIFTER

PRESENTATION BY

ABUGA DOMINIC

2K19/VLS/24
Shifters are important elements in many microprocessor design for Arithmetic shifting, Logical shifting and Rotation (Barrel Shifter) functions.

Shifters are used extensively in floating point units, Scalars and Multiplication by constant numbers.

Ideally a Shift Operation is important in Arithmetic Operations and thus requires adequate hardware support.
Commonly used Shifters

(I)Barrel Shifter
(ii)Logarithmic Shifter
(iii)Arithmetic Shifter
(iv)Funnel Shifter
(v)Programmable Shifter –which is more complex and require active circuitry
One-Bit (Left-Right) Programmable
shifter.
As shown In the Figure beside,
Depending on the control signals,
the input word is either shifted
left or right or it remains
unchanged.
Multi-bit Shifters can be built by
cascading a number of these units.
Our major concentration will be
on
Barrel Shifter and Logarithmic
Shifter.
 INTRODUCTION TO BARREL SHIFTER
Barrel Shifter is a digital circuit that can shift a data word by a specified number of bits.
It can be implemented by an array of Transistors. The Number of rows equal to the word
length of the data, and the number of columns equals the maximum shift width.
Barrel Shifter that is part of a microprocessor CPU can typically specify the direction of
shift (left or right), the type of shift (circular, arithmetic, or logical), and the amount of
shift (typically 0 to n-1 bit), where n is data inputs and data outputs of barrel shifter.
Barrel Shifters are often required for performing data shifting and rotation in many key
computer operations from address decoding to computer arithmetic.
Barrel Shifter circuits are essential elements in the design of data paths for DSP
applications. A significant reduction in area and power required by the barrel shifter
circuit is achieved by implementing rightward operations as operations in leftward
direction. A significant reduction in delay is possible by reducing the length of critical
path.
……………………………..cont’d
Merit of Barrel Shifter
A Barrel shifter is able to complete the shift in a single clock
cycle, giving it a great advantage over a simple shifter which
can shift n bits in n clock cycles. It is used in conjunction
with a processor’s arithmetic logic unit (ALU) or otherwise
embedded in the ALU itself.
The signal has to pass through at most one transmission gate,
this means the propagation constant is theoretically
constant and independent of the shifter value or shifter size.
 OPERATION OF BARREL SHIFTER

IMPORTANT TO NOTE
B0 B1 B2 B3
The Inputs are A0,A1,A2 and A3

Sh0 A0 A1 A2 A3
The Outputs are B0,B1,B2 and B3
The control Signals Sh0, Sh1, Sh2 and Sh3
Sh1 A1 A2 A3 A3 (Which are Mutually Exclusive)
Number of Rows= Word Length of Data
Sh2 A2 A3 A3 A3 Number of Columns= Maximum Shift
Width
Sh3 A3 A3 A3 A3 Rotates numbers in a cycle such that
the empty spots are filled with bits
shifted off the other hand.
4*4 Barrel Shifter
 THANK YOU

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