Future Roadmap

Carry Lookahead Replacement

Replace the ripple carry adder with a carry lookahead adder to reduce critical path depth from O(n) to O(log n). This will improve maximum clock frequency at the cost of increased gate count.

Pipeline Introduction

Convert the single-cycle architecture to a pipelined design. This will require pipeline registers, hazard detection, and forwarding logic. The goal is to increase throughput while maintaining correctness.

Branch Handling

Implement proper branch prediction and handling mechanisms. This includes branch target buffers, branch delay slots, or branch prediction logic to minimize pipeline stalls.

Microarchitectural Tradeoffs

Document and analyze tradeoffs between:

• Gate count vs. speed
• Area vs. power consumption
• Complexity vs. performance
• Single-cycle vs. pipelined execution