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32nd Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA'05)
An Architecture Framework for Transparent Instruction Set Customization in Embedded Processors
Madison, Wisconsin
June 04-June 08
ISBN: 0-7695-2270-X
Nathan Clark, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Jason Blome, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Michael Chu, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Scott Mahlke, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Stuart Biles, ARM, Ltd.
Kriszti? Flautner, ARM, Ltd.
Instruction set customization is an effective way to improve processor performance. Critical portions of application data-flow graphs are collapsed for accelerated execution on specialized hardware. Collapsing dataflow subgraphs will compress the latency along critical paths and reduces the number of intermediate results stored in the register file. While custom instructions can be effective, the time and cost of designing a new processor for each application is immense. To overcome this roadblock, this paper proposes a flexible architectural framework to transparently integrate custom instructions into a general-purpose processor. Hardware accelerators are added to the processor to execute the collapsed subgraphs. A simple microarchitectural interface is provided to support a plug-and-play model for integrating a wide range of accelerators into a pre-designed and verified processor core. The accelerators are exploited using an approach of static identification and dynamic realization. The compiler is responsible for identifying profitable subgraphs, while the hardware handles discovery, mapping, and execution of compatible subgraphs. This paper presents the design of a plug-and-play transparent accelerator system and evaluates the cost/performance implications of the design.
Citation:
Nathan Clark, Jason Blome, Michael Chu, Scott Mahlke, Stuart Biles, Kriszti? Flautner, "An Architecture Framework for Transparent Instruction Set Customization in Embedded Processors," isca, pp.272-283, 32nd Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA'05), 2005
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