So, I have this assignment where I need to design a RISC-32-bit 5 stage pipeline. I must support at least 32 (32-bit) instructions and 32 (32-bit) data values. The memory should be read in 1 clock cycle. Now, for this, I have used a word addressable memory (1 address will contain 32 bits). But, I want to make this byte addressable.
One way of doing this is making the external clock four times slower and then passing these into the other stages of the pipeline. But passing the original clock into the memory part. But, this will make the simulation a bit hectic, like I have to run the clock 20 times (instead of 5).
Another way of doing this will be running a clock (attached to the memory) that will be four times faster than the external clock. So, by the time a single clock cycle passes, memory will be accessed four times so that we would have brought the complete 32-bit. But, circuits for doubling/quadrupling the frequency of a clock seem too complicated.
Are there simpler frequency doubler circuits that can be implemented, or is there any other way to do this?
I am using logisim-evolution to simulate this, and for the memory part, I have used the in-built RAM.
The normal way to make a 32-bit byte-addressable memory is to have four 8-bit memory subsystems that are all fed the top N-2 bits of the byte address. When doing a 32-bit load or store, all four memory subsystems will be active. When doing a 16-bit load or store, the second-from-the-bottom address bit will be used control whether to activate the first and second subsystems or the third and fourth. When doing an 8-bit load or store, the bottom address bit will select between the first and second, or between the third and fourth, subsystem.