2026-09-18T19:32:11Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/request

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/429062022-01-13T07:54:29Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131022

Srinivas Devadas. Jain, Prabhat Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 2008-11-07T14:09:08Z 2008-11-07T14:09:08Z 2008 2008 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42906 243603747 Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-135). Embedded systems are increasingly using on-chip caches as part of their on-chip memory system. This thesis presents cache mechanisms to improve cache performance and provide opportunities to improve data availability that can lead to more predictable cache performance. The first cache mechanism presented is an intelligent cache replacement policy that utilizes information about dead data and data that is very frequently used. This mechanism is analyzed theoretically to show that the number of misses using intelligent cache replacement is guaranteed to be no more than the number of misses using traditional LRU replacement. Hardware and software-assisted mechanisms to implement intelligent cache replacement are presented and evaluated. The second cache mechanism presented is that of cache partitioning which exploits disjoint access sequences that do not overlap in the memory space. A theoretical result is proven that shows that modifying an access sequence into a concatenation of disjoint access sequences is guaranteed to improve the cache hit rate. Partitioning mechanisms inspired by the concept of disjoint sequences are designed and evaluated. A profit-based analysis, annotation, and simulation framework has been implemented to evaluate the cache mechanisms. This framework takes a compiled benchmark program and a set of program inputs and evaluates various cache mechanisms to provide a range of possible performance improvement scenarios. The proposed cache mechanisms have been evaluated using this framework by measuring cache miss rates and Instructions Per Clock (IPC) information. The results show that the proposed cache mechanisms show promise in improving cache performance and predictability with a modest increase in silicon area. by Prabhat Jain. Ph.D. 145 leaves eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Software-assisted cache mechanisms for embedded systems Thesis application/pdf false Publication unknown unknown <Publication xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/1.1/" id="98247984-06b8-4b3d-9aa4-398868d09b23"> <Type xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/vocab/COAR_Publication_Types">http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843</Type> <Language>eng</Language> <Title>Software-assisted cache mechanisms for embedded systems</Title> <PublishedIn> <Publication> </Publication> </PublishedIn> <PublicationDate>2008</PublicationDate> <Authors> <Author> <DisplayName>Jain, Prabhat</DisplayName> <Affiliation> <OrgUnit> </OrgUnit> </Affiliation> </Author> </Authors> <Editors> </Editors> <Publishers> <Publisher> <DisplayName>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</DisplayName> <OrgUnit /> </Publisher> </Publishers> <License>http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582</License> <Keyword>Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.</Keyword> <Abstract>Embedded systems are increasingly using on-chip caches as part of their on-chip memory system. This thesis presents cache mechanisms to improve cache performance and provide opportunities to improve data availability that can lead to more predictable cache performance. The first cache mechanism presented is an intelligent cache replacement policy that utilizes information about dead data and data that is very frequently used. This mechanism is analyzed theoretically to show that the number of misses using intelligent cache replacement is guaranteed to be no more than the number of misses using traditional LRU replacement. Hardware and software-assisted mechanisms to implement intelligent cache replacement are presented and evaluated. The second cache mechanism presented is that of cache partitioning which exploits disjoint access sequences that do not overlap in the memory space. A theoretical result is proven that shows that modifying an access sequence into a concatenation of disjoint access sequences is guaranteed to improve the cache hit rate. Partitioning mechanisms inspired by the concept of disjoint sequences are designed and evaluated. A profit-based analysis, annotation, and simulation framework has been implemented to evaluate the cache mechanisms. This framework takes a compiled benchmark program and a set of program inputs and evaluates various cache mechanisms to provide a range of possible performance improvement scenarios. The proposed cache mechanisms have been evaluated using this framework by measuring cache miss rates and Instructions Per Clock (IPC) information. The results show that the proposed cache mechanisms show promise in improving cache performance and predictability with a modest increase in silicon area.</Abstract> <Access xmlns="http://purl.org/coar/access_right" > </Access> </Publication>