In-Memory Computing: The Integration of Storage and Processing

In today’s computer architectures, the data is processed and stored in two separate units. Therefore, a communication system is needed to transfer the data between these two main components. The required time for communcation to access the stored data limits performance of the processor to much less than its potential. This problem is especially challenging due to the emergence of new applications which require huge amount of data to be processed in real time. Some of the advanced emerging memory technologies may provide a solution for this problem by allowing to perform logic operations within the memory cells. This enables a new generation of computer architectures in which the memory and the processor are unified. In this context, this chapter presents the state of the art for in-memory computation of logical functions using the Resistive RAM technology. In particular, the chapter introduces a logic-in-memory computer architecture and shows how it can be programmed to efficiently compute arbitrary arithmetic and control functions such as those frequently used in modern computers’ processing units.