CAREER: Software Thread Integration for Low-End through High-End Embedded Processors

职业：从低端到高端嵌入式处理器的软件线程集成

• 批准号: 0133690
• 负责人: Alexander Dean
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-02-01 至 2009-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0133690&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Software; Thread; Integration; Low

This CAREER project investigates embedded systems architectures through the application of compiler and architectural techniques which use an existing processor more efficiently. Rather than automatically adopt existing personal computer paradigms for embedded systems, the main theme of this research is to rethink architectures and compilers in the context of embedded systems and how they are designed. Software thread integration (STI) is a novel compiler technique for automatically interleaving multiple procedures (which implement multiple threads of control) into one non-speculative implicitly multithreaded procedure. The threads are integrated at the assembly language level; the compiler applies transformations to resolve conflicts in control-flow and resource sharing. This research project uses STI in two ways. The first builds on the extraction of more fine-grain concurrency from a generic processor. STI enables switching from one thread to another with negligible (if any) performance penalty or delay. This means that some of the hardware resources added to compensate for the processor's poor fine-grain concurrency are eliminated and the functions move to software. The research is developing efficient methods to perform this hardware to software migration efficiently and precisely enough to implement network protocol interfaces completely in software, reducing size, weight, cost and development time for low-end embedded systems.The second uses integration's augmentation of a thread's instruction-level parallelism, leading to faster execution on processors which are able to execute multiple instructions simultaneously. Modern digital signal processors used in high-end embedded systems are able to do so, yet they are poorly utilized because single threads do not contain enough independent instructions. STI helps by increasing the number of independent instructions in a thread to keep more functional units busy and finish the computation faster. This enables the more efficient use of lower-performance processors, reducing system costs and development time. When coupled with power management techniques, it also reduces power consumption and increases battery life.The PI is creating a new embedded systems track within the computer engineering curriculum at NC State University. Two new hands-on courses on processor-based embedded systems are being added to supplement the PI's existing embedded system design course. The first is a junior-level course that introduces students to microcontrollers, interfacing them to the physical environment, and using a real-time operating system with modern development tools. The second is a graduate course that covers high-performance embedded systems for media processing. Students learn to program and optimize media applications (e.g audio or video compression and decompression) on various architectures (superscalar, VLIW, chip multi-processor). The PI is also involved in outreach activities at the NC School of Science and Mathematics to promote interest in embedded systems design and programming.

该职业项目通过应用编译器和架构技术来调查嵌入式系统架构，这些技术更有效地使用现有处理器。 这项研究的主题不是自动采用现有的个人计算机范例来嵌入式系统，而是在嵌入式系统的背景下重新考虑建筑和编译器以及它们的设计方式。软件线程集成（STI）是一种新颖的编译器技术，用于自动将多个过程（实现多个控制线程）交织到一个非指定性隐式多线程过程中。线程集成在汇编语言级别；编译器应用转换来解决控制流和资源共享中的冲突。该研究项目以两种方式使用STI。 第一个建立在从通用处理器中提取更多细粒并发性的基础上。 STI可以将一个可忽略不计的性能罚款或延迟从一个线程切换到另一个线程。这意味着，添加了一些硬件资源来弥补处理器的差细粒并发性差，并且功能转移到软件。这项研究正在开发有效的方法来执行该硬件以有效，精确地迁移足以实现软件中的网络协议界面，从而减少了低端嵌入式系统的尺寸，重量，成本和开发时间。第二，第二种使用集成的增加线程指令级别的平行级的增强，从而使处理器无法执行多个指令，从而可以执行多个指令。高端嵌入式系统中使用的现代数字信号处理器能够做到这一点，但是由于单线不含足够的独立说明，因此使用不佳。 STI通过增加线程中的独立说明的数量来帮助您保持更多功能单元忙并更快地完成计算。 这使得可以更有效地使用较低的处理器，从而减少系统成本和开发时间。当加上电力管理技术时，它还降低了功耗并增加了电池寿命。PI正在在NC州立大学的计算机工程课程中创建一个新的嵌入式系统轨道。正在添加有关基于处理器的嵌入式系统的两个新的动手课程，以补充PI现有的嵌入式系统设计课程。第一个是一门初级课程，它将学生介绍给微控制器，将其接口到物理环境，并使用现代开发工具的实时操作系统。第二个是研究生课程，涵盖用于媒体处理的高性能嵌入式系统。学生学习在各种体系结构（SuperScalar，vliw，chip多处理器）上对媒体应用程序进行编程和优化媒体应用程序（例如音频或视频压缩和减压）。 PI还参与了NC科学与数学学院的外展活动，以促进对嵌入式系统设计和编程的兴趣。