Multi-processor operating system emulation framework with thermal feedback for systems-on-chip

Multi-Processor System-On-Chip (MPSoC) can provide the performance levels required by high-end embedded applications. However, they do so at the price of an increasing power density, which may lead to thermal runaway if coupled with low-cost packaging and cooling. Hence, mechanisms to efficiently evaluate the effectiveness of advanced thermal-aware operating-system (OS) strategies (e.g. task migration) onto the available MPSoC hardware are needed. In this paper, we propose a new MPSoC OS emulation framework that enables the study of thermal management strategies at the architectural- and OS-levels with the help of a standard FPGA. This framework includes the hardware and software components needed to accurately model complex MPSoCs architectures, and to test the effects of run-time thermal management strategies at the OS/middleware level with real-life inputs. Our results show that migration overhead is negligible w.r.t. temperature timings, enabling the development of thermal-aware ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: GLVLSI
• Authors: Salvatore Carta, Andrea Acquaviva, Pablo Garcia Del Valle, David Atienza, Giovanni De Micheli, Fernando Rincón, Luca Benini, Jose Manuel Mendias
• Keywords: GLVLSI 2007, OS Emulation Framework, Thermal Management Strategies, Thermal-aware Migration Strategies, VLSI