CSR-AES: User Support Software for a Fresh Breeze Computer System

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The Fresh Breeze Project concerns a multi-core chip architecture that addresses the need for better programming support for parallel computation, including composabilityof parallel programs. This is accomplished bysupporting global virtual memory, employing a novel memorymodel based on fixed-size chunks, and virtualizing processingresources through fine-grain scheduling of threads ofcomputation using an on-chip scheduler.A cycle-accurate simula­tion of the architecture servesfor testing and evaluating the architecture inillustrative applications.Many functions of a conventional operating system relating to memory management, file system support, and process scheduling are replaced by hardware features in the Fresh Breeze architecture. In consequence, Fresh Breeze operating software differs substan­tially from a conventionaloperating system. The Fresh Breeze architecture providesspecial classes of computing objects: futures to supportdata streams and guards to support transactions.The Fresh Breeze multithread program execution model is supported directly by the Fresh Breeze architecture, so these features are available for writing support soft­ware for user authentication, resource management, input/output facilities, and directory andfile management. It is planned to make an FPGA implementationof the Fresh Breeze architecture available to interestedinstitutions by means of the RAMP prototyping infrastructure.Benefits of the project include the possibility of a powerful new computing platform with effective support for the development of robust software for parallel computing, leading to higher programmer productivity and performance. Benefits to the broader communityinclude better computing facilities for goals such asaccurate weather forecasting, drug design, and sustainabledevelopment.