The Execution Unit contains the Integer Pipeline (IP), the Load/Store (LS) Pipeline and the Loop Pipeline (LP). All three pipelines operate in parallel, permitting up to three instructions to be executed in one clock cycle. In the execution unit all instructions pass through a decode stage followed by two execute stages (three for multiply-accumulate (MAC)). Pipeline hazards (stalls) are minimized by the use of forwarding paths between pipeline stages allowing the results of one instruction to be used by a following instruction as soon as the result becomes available.

Figure 1. Execution unit