RTOS acceleration in an MPSoC with reconfigurable hardware. (July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zaykov, Pavel G.; Kuzmanov, Georgi; Molnos, Anca; Goossens, Kees
• Is Part Of: Computers & electrical engineering. Volume 53(2016)
• Page Start: 89
• Page End: 105
• Publication Date: 2016-07
• Subjects: Processor–coprocessor execution model -- Multiprocessor platform -- RTOS -- Hardware task-status manager -- Thread interrupt state controller -- Inter-tile remote slack information Distribution framework -- Molen -- FIFO communication; Computer engineering -- Periodicals; Electrical engineering -- Periodicals; Electrical engineering -- Data processing -- Periodicals; Ordinateurs -- Conception et construction -- Périodiques; Électrotechnique -- Périodiques; Électrotechnique -- Informatique -- Périodiques; Computer engineering; Electrical engineering; Electrical engineering -- Data processing; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 621.302854
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compeleceng.2016.03.016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0045-7906

Abstract

Abstract: In this paper, we address the problem of improving the performance of real-time embedded Multiprocessor System-on-Chip (MPSoC). Such MPSoCs often execute applications composed of multiple tasks. The tasks on each processor are scheduled by a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) instance. To improve performance, we reduce the Worst Case Execution Time (WCET) of the RTOS by new processor-coprocessor execution models using reconfigurable hardware. Furthermore, we integrate the proposed contributions on an MPSoC platform, where the processor-coprocessor execution models are applied on three reconfigurable coprocessors - Hardware Task-Status Manager (HWTSM), Thread Interrupt State Controller (TISC), and Remote Slack Manager (RSM). As a case study, we investigate the HWTSM, which determines the execution eligibility of tasks. The experimental results suggest overall system improvement up to 13.3% with the help of the HWTSM. Moreover, the TISC can boost further the performance and RSM can significantly reduce the energy consumption.