An Analysis of Scalar Memory Accesses in Embedded and Multimedia Systems

  • Osman S. Unsal
  • Zhenlin Wang
  • Israel Koren
  • C. Mani Krishna
  • Csaba Andras Moritz
Chapter

Abstract

In an earlier chapter about the FlexCache project [24], we described our vision of a multipartitioned cache where memory accesses are separated based on their static predictability and memory footprint, and managed with various compiler-controlled techniques supported by instruction set architecture extensions or with traditional hardware control.

In line with that vision, this paper describes our work in progress related to the memory performance and memory management of scalars. Our focus in this paper is embedded and multimedia architectures, but the methodology described can be applied to other classes of applications.

In particular, we establish the minimum size of a memory partition that would allow us to map and manage all scalar accesses in a program statically and describe compiler techniques to automate the extraction of this information. We evaluate the impact of register file size on the volume of scalar-related memory accesses and its impact on the applications’ overall cache performance. We study the cache behavior of scalar accesses for embedded architectures, including reduction in cache misses due to separation of scalars from other types of memory accesses. Additionally, we develop an energy-efficient data caching strategy for multimedia processors, based on our scalar partitioning approach.

Keywords

Memory Access Basic Block None None Cache Size Data Cache 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2004

Authors and Affiliations

  • Osman S. Unsal
    • 1
  • Zhenlin Wang
    • 2
  • Israel Koren
    • 1
  • C. Mani Krishna
    • 1
  • Csaba Andras Moritz
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Electrical and Computer EngineeringUniversity of MassachusettsAmherstUSA
  2. 2.Department of Computer ScienceUniversity of MassachusettsAmherstUSA

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