SHF: Small: Thermal-Aware High-Performance DRAM Architectures in Multicore Technologies

美国环境保护署估计，到2011年，全国数据中心的耗电量将相当于大约30个发电厂的发电量。显然，改善这些系统的功率和热行为对其能效和可靠运行有直接影响。DRAM存储器构成计算机中消耗的功率的重要部分。此外，在多核/众核处理器的黎明时代，系统的性能在很大程度上取决于其主存效率。本项目研究如何在充分利用带宽的情况下操作DRAM，同时每单位数据通信的功耗最小，并保持较低的工作温度。具体而言，这项工作旨在回答三个基本问题：a）我们如何能够增强处理器架构，以平衡不同DRAM芯片上的活动，以保护芯片在热应力下，B）我们如何能够增强DRAM系统，以降低其功耗和峰值工作温度，以及c）我们如何能够增强操作系统，以改善DRAM系统的热行为？本计画所发展之技术将改善动态随机存取记忆体系统之热行为，进而降低热管理成本及系统能源消耗。此外，这些改进将使新一代高性能处理器成为可能。反过来，这将增强未来计算系统的计算能力，并使各个领域取得进展。最后，从这项工作中衍生的项目将被纳入课程，有助于为一个节能和可持续的社会培训工程人员。

Environment Protection Agency estimates that by 2011 data centers nationwide would consume electricity amounting to the equivalent output of about 30 power plants. Clearly, improving the power and thermal behavior of these systems has a direct impact on their energy efficiency and reliable operation. DRAM memories constitute a significant fraction of the power consumed in computers. In addition, in the dawning era of multi-/many-core processors, the performance of a system is largely dependant on its main memory efficiency. This project investigates ways to operate DRAMs at full bandwidth utilization while spending the minimum power per unit of data communicated and maintaining lower operating temperatures. Specifically, this work aims at answering three fundamental questions: a) how can we enhance processor architectures to balance the activity on different DRAM chips to protect chips under thermal stress, b) how can we enhance the DRAM systems to reduce their power consumption and peak operating temperatures, and c) how can we enhance the operating systems to improve the thermal behavior of DRAM systems? Techniques developed in this project will improve the thermal behavior of DRAM systems and hence will reduce the cost of thermal management and decrease the system energy consumption. Furthermore, these improvements will enable new generations of high-performance processors. This, in turn, will enhance the computational capabilities of future computing systems and enable progress in various fields. Finally, projects derived from this work will be integrated into courses contributing to the training of an engineering workforce for an energy-efficient and sustainable society.