Data compression for improving SPM behavior

Scratch-pad memories (SPMs) enable fast access to time-critical data. While prior research studied both static and dynamic SPM management strategies, not being able to keep all hot data (i.e., data with high reuse) in the SPM remains the biggest problem. This paper proposes data compression to increase the number of data blocks that can be kept in the SPM. Our experiments with several embedded applications show that our compression-based SPM management heuristic is very effective and outperforms prior static and dynamic SPM management approaches. We also present an ILP formulation of the problem, and show that the proposed heuristic generates competitive results with those obtained through ILP, while spending much less time in compilation. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.3.4 [Programming Languages]: Processors--compilers, optimization General Terms Algorithms, Performance Keywords scratch-pad memory, compilers, data compression

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: DAC
• Authors: Ozcan Ozturk, Mahmut T. Kandemir, I. Demirkiran, Guangyu Chen, Mary Jane Irwin
• Keywords: DAC 2004, Design Automation, Dynamic Spm Management, SPM Management Approaches, SPM Management Strategies