An accurate Energy estimation framework for VLIW Processor Cores

— In this paper, we present a comprehensive energy estimation framework for software executing on Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) processor cores. The proposed energy model is used as an average energy estimator coupled to the instruction set simulator (ISS) of the processor. The base energy of an execution set is computed as the NOP energy added with incremental energies of each instruction in the execution set. The inter execution-set energy is accurately modeled with a new approach as a linear equation of three factors - functional to functional instruction switching; functional to NOP or prefix instruction swithing; and variability in the length of the execution set. This reduces the characterization complexity of the model to O(N), where N is the total number of instructions in the instruction set of the processor. We have introduced the concept of “functional separability” in the energy model, wherein the energy of each high-level function of the processor core is distin...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: ICCD
• Authors: Sourav Roy, Rajat Bhatia, Ashish Mathur
• Keywords: Average Energy Estimator, Energy Model, Hardware, ICCD 2006, Instruction Set Simulator