ITT 80063SM-A-919797 – AN/ALQ-136(V)I Processor. The 2901B’s are the 4 larger dies in a row, middle right.

Military computing applications require many custom designs, as they are very mission specific.  A great example is this ITT hybrid processor.  It was designed and used for the AN/ALQ-136(V)1 CMS (CounterMeasures System) for the AH-1F Cobra Attack helicopter.  Two of these hybrids are used in the system, one for the Mod Recovery board, and one for the SLO processor board.  These boards are used to detect hostile pulse RADAR systems, analyze them, and begin jamming based on what type they are.

This requires relatively fast processing, and a generally custom design.  Today a modern DSP processor could handle this task without issue.  However in the early 80’s (the AN/ALQ-136 debuted in 1982) DSP processors were in their infancy.  In 1982 a fast custom processor needed to be built with bit-slice elements.  In this case the very versatile AMD 2901 was used.  The ITT hybrid integrates 4 AMD AM2901B processor dies, as well as associated memory and interfacing elements.  The single package contains almost 100 dies, and many discrete components.  It is built on a ceramic substrate with gold traces, and sealed in a metal package.  This is required to protect the digital components of the system from electronic interference, whether from external sources, or from the helicopters own RADAR systems.  The AN/ALQ-136 is designed to prevent the Cobra from being successfully targeted by RADAR guided missiles, failure means a strong possibility that the helicopter gets hit, not something its crew would like to deal with.

4x AMD AM2901B Dies.

The 4 AMD 2901Bs run at 16MHz (50% faster then the original 2901s) and are made with ECL; together they provide 16-bit processing of the incoming RADAR signals. The SLO (Side Lobe Opposition) and MOD Recovery (Modulation Recovery) are used to determine the exact type of the enemy RADAR.  Each RADAR has a distinct characteristic that the CMS can match and respond to.  The CMS is programmed to respond to the radar signals of the most critical threat weapon systems anticipated to be encoun

Israeli AH-1F Cobras – Now Retired/Transferred to Jordan.

tered in the hostile environment.  These signatures are stored in the hybrids ROMs as well as the desired response to them.  Updates likely remain replacing these hybrids with updated versions.  New countermeasures systems (such as the 136’s replacement, the AN/ALQ-211) are more easily upgradeable to new threats.

The AH-1F Cobra continues to fly with the air forces of several countries around the world, notably Pakistan, Jordan, and Turkey.  The United States Forest Service also operates 25 AH-1F Cobras for wildland fire use, but it is rather unlikely that the countermeasures on these are operable, let alone needed.

HP 12152-60002 A700 Phoenix Processor – 4x AMD AM2903 (1820-2377)

The Lighting processors of the HP A600 and A600+ were good performing for 1982.  They filled the entry and mid range slots of the HP 1000 A Series quite well.  The additional floating point support of the A600+ in 1984 helped considerably as well, but what was needed for truly better performance on the high end was hardware math support.  While the HP A600 took only 9 months to design and release, the A700, released at the same time, took somewhat longer.  The A600 was based on the AMD 2901, which had been released way back in 1975.  The A700 Phoenix was based on its successor, the AM2903.  The 2903 added a few important features to the bit-slicer.  Hardware multiply and divide support,support for more registers, and easier ways to access them, and parity generation.  This is why the A700 took longer to design, the A600 design was begun half way through the A700 to fill the lower end, where the features of the 2903 wouldn’t be as missed.

The A700 performs at the same 1 MIPS as the A600 but supports 205 standard instructions (compared to 182 for the A600 and 239 for the A600+).  It adds more register reference instructions, dynamic  mapping, I/O and more math based instructions.  Cycle time is actually slightly slower, 250ns compared to 227ns for the A600 but the 2903 allows more efficiency making up for the difference.  A typical FMP instruction take 13.75-25.25 microseconds compared to 16.6-26.6 on the 2901 powered A600.  This is a direct result of the hardware multiply hardware included in the 2903.  The A600+, with its faster 2901C’s completes the same instruction in 17-21.1 microseconds, FASTER then the A700. But the A700 has a trick up its sleeve….

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TI SN74LS481J -1980 – 8 MHZ 4-bit Slice

The 1970’s was a rush to design new and innovative processors, faster, more features, and more bits.  Most of the processors were new designs, a few were single chip implementations of older mainframes (such as the TMS9900 and the Intersil 6100.  At the same time there was a competition of 4-bit processors.  Somewhat remarkable in 1976 considering 16-bit designs were now being released.  The most famous was of course the AMD AM2901, which undoubtable won the battle.  There were others, the MMI 6701 (a company which AMD would go on to merge with).  Motorola had the MC10800, made in ECL and Intel made the ill-fated (probably since it was only 2-bits) Intel 3002 Processor.  TI made the SBP0400 in I²L that enjoyed some success, but that apparently wasn’t enough.  In 1976, the same year as the SBP0400, the 6701 and the AMD AM2901, TI released the SN74S481.  This was a Schottky TTL 4-bit slice processor (and the SN74S482 sequencer for it).  It was a bit different than its competition.

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AMD AM29501DC – 10MHz Byte Slice

AMD is well known for its 2901 bit-slice processor of the 1970’s (being made well into the 1990’s), as well as the previously detailed AM29116 16-bit processor released in 1981. However, the 1980’s brought another AMD design as well, though not as complicated, it is no less interesting.  In 1981, there was not a clear DSP (Digital Signal Processor) architecture, or really purpose built design.  The Signetics 8X300 was well suited for such work, but was not inherently designed for it.  DSP tasks were handled by other processors, or by completely custom designs.  The AM29501 was not designed as a DSP, but it was marketed as a signal processor, at least for the first 5 years of manufacture.  What the 29501 was, was a relatively fast, and pipelined, byte slice processor, basically a highly upgraded AM2901.

As the name suggests, the 29501 processes data 8-bits at a time, and as a slicer, it requires external program control (it lacks a PC (Program Counter) or sequencer).  It has an 8-function ALU, and 6 sets of registers, which can be accessed independently, allowing for a pipelined architecture, multiple instructions may be issued before the first one is completed (as long as they don’t need the same resources).  While the ALU is doing some addition, more data may be fetched, or output to one of the 3 8-bit buses. AMD designed the 29501 to be able to do advanced DSP work, and such work requires multiplication, which is something the ‘501 cannot do itself.  The 29501, however, was explicitly designed to interface to the AM29516/7 16-bit multipliers.   If a multiplication is needed the microprogram controller simply puts it on the multiplier bus and tells the 2951x to handle it.  A fairly advanced system could be built by using a 29116 a 29516 as well as a 29501, building a complete pipelined DSP system.  One of the first designs using the 29501 in such a way was a finger print recognition system, for matching images of fingerprints, a particularly intense DSP task for the 1980’s.

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In 1974 Monolithic Memories Inc. (MMI) announced the 6701 bit slice device.  At its heart the 6701 is a 4-bit ALU much like the 74181 TTL IC.  The 6701 adds a register, and some other support circuitry on chip making it much more adaptable.  The 6701 has an approximate complexity of 1000 gates (meaning it would replace 1000 gates worth of TTL).  The 6701 was made on a bipolar process and ran at 5.2MHz.  Later versions would up this speed to around 11MHz.

6701D - 1976

The 6701 continues on until around 1980 by which time the AMD 2901 bit-slice processor had come to completely dominate the market.  The Soviets however cloned/modified the 6701 as the 1802VS1 through the 80’s and into the 1990’s.

AMD AM2901ADC – 1977

In August 1975 AMD introduced the ‘100 ns Bipolar microprocessor.’ This was a bit-slice device. Essentially a 4-bit ALU (like a 74181) with functionality (scratch pad memory and accumulator register) to make it work as a processor that could be scaled to any bit width (using the 2909 sequencer and 2910 controller).  Being made in bipolar allowed for the high speed (10MHz at the time was pretty quick).  The introduction of the 2901 also marked the beginning of the end to the competition int he bit-slice arena.  A combination of marketing, second-sourcing, and a good product allowed AMD to completely dominate the bit-slice market.  Even today most bit-slice designs are based on the 2901 from 35 years ago.

At the time there were several other bit-slice processors on the market.  Intel had the 3002 (a 2-bit design), National’s IMP-8 and IMP-16, and the original TTL 74181 were all bit-slice devices.  MMI (which AMD bought in the 1980’s) had introduced the 6701 4bit slice in 1974, a full year before AMD’s 2901.  TI had the SBP0400A and Motorola the MC10800 (in ECL – 1976). So why with all this competition did AMD come to dominate?

Raytheon AM2901ADC – 1980

Second Sourcing

Second sourcing is the licensing of a design to other companies for them to manufacture, market and sell it.  Sometimes its simply a license to manufacture, sometimes it comes with technical assistance, or even complete mask sets to make the device.  There are three main reasons this is done (or was done back in the day)

Guaranteed Availability.

In the 1970’s making IC’s was a relatively new process, one with many bugs, and often reliability issues.  Having a second source was a must to get a big design win. A system design would not want to design a system around a chip that may end up not being available, or not be available in the quantities needed.  Having a second source to get the IC from alleviated this problem.  It gave system designers a stable supply, regardless if the primary source could not keep up, or had a problem.

Distribution

Second-sourcing helped solve distribution problems as well.  A company may have an excellent design, but no way to sell it.  Often this was a geography problem.  American companies did not initially have a large presence, or distributors set up, in Europe or Japan.  An American company would often second-source a design to a European company (such as Siemens or Thomson) solely to get their design distributed in that area.

Marketing

One of the keys to a processors success is design wins.  It can be the best processor on the market,. but if no one uses it, it will fail.  Having additional companies make, and market the processor vastly increased its exposure.  Second-source companies would also typically make development systems, and other support tools, as well as vast documentation for the processor.  This helped ensure that engineers knew about the processor, how to use it, and whee to get it, ensuring its winning of more sockets.

Soviet Electronika 1804VS1 – 2901 Clone – 1988

AMD clearly understood the importance of second-sourcing.  In November 1975, just months after the 2901 was released, they designed an agreement with Motorola to make the 2901.  In December, they signed up Raytheon, and in March of 1976 AMD signed an agreement with the SESCOSEM division of Thomson-CSF, to make and distribute the 2901 in markets outside the US and Japan. In June 1976 AMD amended their agreement with Motorola to include more technical assistance, ensuring Motorola could get the 2901 to market. In September 1976 MMI canceled the 6701, as they were unable to compete.  MMI had no second-sources for the 6701 which likely led to its failure.

As the years went by, AMD added more second-sources, and dropped a few. Eventually coming to completely dominate the bit-slice market.  The Soviets began to copy the 2901 around 1985 (not particularly legally but they did what they had to) and continued to do so until well into the 90’s.

Innovasic IA59032 – 8 x 2901 – 2003

AMD also made the AM29C101 which was 4 2901s in a single chip, producing a 16bit processor.  Cypress manufactured a copy of the 29C101 called the CY7C9101

Several other companies also designed multiple 2901s into a single chip. WSI (and later InnovASIC) designed the 59032, which has the equivalent of 8 2901s to form a 32 bit slice and the 59016 which was  16bit slice (4x 2901).  IDT designed the 49C402 which was also a 16 bit slicer.  Today the 2901 is still in wide use, and while not generally used for new designs, it still powers a vast amount of electronic equipment that still is in use.  InnovASIC still manufactures the 2901 (in 59032 form) to this day.

Often times its easier, and cheaper to break a big job down into smaller more manageable chunks.  The same goes for processing, and back in the 70’s and 80’s was fairly common.  ‘Wider’ processors were available, but were expensive and often not very flexible.  Bit slice processors were invented to fix this. a BSP is essentially an ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) that was 2 or 4 bits wide.  They could be put in parallel though to make processors of any width you needed.  intructions and control would then be fed to them by a control/sequencer chip.  Perhaps the most famous was the AMD 2901, a 4 bit slice device which is still in production today by companies like Innovasic.

Signetics 3002 BSP

Intel also made a BSP, called the 3002. It was 2-bit slice processor and was second sourced by Signetics, as well as Intersil. Released in September of 1974, it was clocked at 6MHz, very fast for the time, and another reason BSP’s were so popular. Above is a Signetics made 3002 in an all white ceramic package. Fairly unusual in that the lid is also white.