Characteristic of RISC –

 Simpler instruction, hence simple instruction decoding.

 Instruction comes undersize of one word.
 Instruction takes a single clock cycle to get executed.
 More number of general-purpose registers.
 Simple Addressing Modes.
 Less Data types.
 Pipeline can be achieved.

Examples of processors with the RISC architecture include MIPS,

PowerPC, Atmel's AVR, the Microchip PIC processors,
Arm processors, RISC-V, and all modern microprocessors have at
least some elements of RISC.
Examples of CISC processors are the System/360, VAX, AMD, and Intel
x86 CPUs. Common RISC microprocessors are ARC, Alpha, ARC, ARM,
AVR, PA-RISC, and SPARC.
RISC Characteristics

1. Small and Limited Numbers of Instructions. ...

2. Hardwired Control Units. ...
3. High Performance With Decreased Power. ...
4. Simple Instructions. ...
5. Simple Addressing Modes. ...
6. Uniform Fixed Length Instruction Set. ...
7. Large Number of Registers.
8. Instruction register
9. The Von Neumann architecture consists of a single, shared memory for
programs and data, a single bus for memory access, an arithmetic unit,
and a program control unit. The Von Neumann processor operates
fetching and execution cycles seriously.
An instruction register holds a machine instruction that is currently being
executed. In general, a register sits at the top of the memory hierarchy. A
variety of registers serve different functions in a central processing unit
(CPU) – the function of the instruction register is to hold that currently
queued instruction for use.

2 A memory buffer register (MBR) (also known as memory data

register (MDR)) is the register in a computer's processor, or central
processing unit, CPU, that stores the data being transferred to and from the
immediate access storage.

3.) This register is used to access data and instructions from memory during the execution
phase of instruction. MAR holds the memory location of data that needs to be accessed. When
reading from memory, data addressed by MAR is fed into the MDR (memory data register) and
then used by the CPU. When writing to memory, the CPU writes data from MDR to the memory
location whose address is stored in MAR. MAR, which is found inside the CPU, goes either to the
RAM (random-access memory).

4)The program counter, PC, is a special-purpose register that is used by

the processor to hold the address of the next instruction to be executed. The
PLA automatically updates the PC to point to the next instruction during the
op-code decode cycle.

5) The instruction set consists of addressing modes, instructions, native data

types, registers, memory architecture, interrupt, and exception handling, and
external I/O. An example of an instruction set is the x86 instruction set, which
is common to find on computers today

Functional Requirements
The functional requirements of control unit are those functions that the
control unit must perform. And these are the basis for the design and
implementation of the control unit.

A three step process that lead to the characterization of the Control Unit:
·        Define the basis elements of the processor
·        Describe the micro-operations that the processor performs
·        Determine the functions that the control unit must perform to
cause the micro-operations to be performed.

1.  Basic Elements of Processor

The following are the basic functional elements of a CPU:

·        ALU: is the functional essence of the computer.
·        Registers: are used to store data internal to the CPU.

2.  Types of Micro-operation

These operations consist of a sequence of micro operations. All micro

instructions fall into one of the following categories:
·        Transfer data between registers
·        Transfer data from register to external
·        Transfer data from external to register
·        Perform arithmetic or logical ops

3.  Functions of Control Unit

Now we define more explicitly the function of control unit. The control unit
perform two tasks:
·        Sequencing: The control unit causes the CPU to step through a
series of micro-operations in proper sequence based on the program
being executed.
·        Execution: The control unit causes each micro-operation to be
performed.

For the control unit to perform its function, it must have inputs that allow it
to determine the state of the system and outputs that allow 
it to control the behavior of the system. These are the external
specifications of the control unit. Internally, the control unit must have the
logic required to perform sequencing and execution functions.

Control unit Inputs

The possible inputs for the control units are:

Clock: The control unit uses clock to maintain the timings.

Instruction register: Op-code of the current instruction is used to determine

which micro-instructions to be performed during the execution cycle.

Flags: These are needed by the control unit to determine the status of the
CPU and outcome of previous ALU operations.

Example: As seen earlier the instruction ISZ, which is increment and skip if
zero, the control unit will increment the PC if the zero flag is set.

Control signals from control bus: the control bus portion of the system bus
provides signals to the control unit, such as interrupt signals and
acknowledgements.