Computer Science ›› 2026, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (6A): 250300124-7.doi: 10.11896/jsjkx.250300124

• Computer Software & Architecture • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Design of Trend-aware Branch Predictor Based on RISC-V Processor

SUN Andong, ZHANG Qingyi   

  1. School of Artificial Intelligence,China University of Minig and Technology-Beijing,Beijing 100083,China
  • Online:2026-06-16 Published:2026-06-12
  • About author:SUN Andong,born in 1998, master.His main research interest is processor design.
    ZHANG Qingyi,born in 1968,Ph.D,associate professor.His main research interests include electromagnetic field theory and its application,image processing and pattern recognition.

Abstract: In recent years,RISC-V-based processors have attracted growing attention from both academia and industry.Within a processor's micro-architecture,branch predictors critically affect overall performance:in pipelined designs,higher prediction accuracy mitigates pipeline flushes and shortens execution time.Conventional predictors rely on saturated counters whose state transitions and decision rules directly bound accuracy.To better track the dynamic tendencies of program control flow,redesign the counter mechanism and,on top of the classic competitive branch predictor,implement a trend-aware branch predictor.Experimental evaluation shows that,relative to the competitive branch predictor,the proposed scheme improves prediction accuracy by 19.26% and instruction throughput by 2.12%;compared with a static branch predictor,the gains rise to 53.85% and 9.60%,respectively.These benefits come at higher hardware cost:logic for the prediction function increases by 40.83% over the competitive branch predictor and 1 220% over the static branch predictor,while verification logic grows by 0.826% and 10.95%,respectively.

Key words: RISC-V processor, Competitive branch predictor, Trend branch predictor, Saturating counter, Jump prediction module

CLC Number: 

  • TP332
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