Voltage and Frequency Control With Adaptive Reaction Time in Multiple-Clock-Domain Processors

Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) is a widely-used method for energy-efficient computing. In this paper, we present a new intra-task online DVFS scheme for multiple clock domain (MCD) processors. Most existing online DVFS schemes for MCD processors use a fixed time interval between possible voltage /frequency changes. The downside to this approach is that the interval boundaries are predetermined and independent of workload changes. Thus, they can be late in responding to large, severe activity swings. In this work, we propose an alternative online DVFS scheme in which the reaction time is self-tuned and adaptive to application and workload changes. In addition to designing such a scheme, we model the proposed DVFS control and use the derived model in a formal stability analysis. The obtained analytical insight is then used to guide and improve the design in terms of stability margin and control effectiveness. We evaluate our DVFS scheme through cycle-accurate simulation ov...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: HPCA
• Authors: Qiang Wu, Philo Juang, Margaret Martonosi, Douglas W. Clark
• Keywords: Computer Architecture, Fixed-interval Dvfs Schemes, HPCA 2005, MCD Processors, Online Dvfs Scheme