Introduction to the Cell Broadband Engine Architecture

This paper provides an overview of the Cell Broadband Engine™ Architecture (CBEA). The CBEA defines a revolutionary extension to a more conventional processor organization and serves as the basis for the development of microprocessors targeted at the computer entertainment, multimedia, and real-time market segments. In this paper, the organization of the architecture is described, as well as the instruction set, commands, and facilities defined in the architecture. In many cases, the motivation for these facilities is explained and examples are provided to illustrate their intended use. In addition, this paper introduces the Software Development Kit and the software standards for a CBEA-compliant processor.