CAREER: Systematic Design Space Exploration

该项目涉及进行严格、系统的处理器设计空间探索所需的技术和工具的研究、开发和传播。关键元素是一个框架，在该框架中，体系结构模拟器和目标编译器自动从公共体系结构描述中派生出来，为架构师、微架构师和编译器开发人员提供了动态但连贯的环境，在其中设计处理器系统。这样的系统将通过拉紧建筑决策和现实的性能反馈之间的循环，并允许原型团队成员之间更有成效的合作，来提高生产率和设计质量。由此产生的设计周期缩短将应对日益严格的市场压力，确保设计新型通用微处理器和专用处理器(ASIP)的实用性，例如网络硬件、蜂窝电话和下一代数字设备中的处理器。此外，这项研究将为本科生和研究生在计算机体系结构和编译器方面提供宝贵的经验。同样的系统是一种理想的机制，通过它，学生可以与计算机体系结构和编译器概念的有形示例进行交互--它将允许他们快速制作系统原型，试验新想法，从而建立对计算机系统的直觉。

This project involves the research, development, and dissemination of techniques and tools necessary to perform rigorous, systematic processor design-space exploration. The key element is a framework inwhich architectural simulators and targeted compilers are automatically derived from a common architectural description, providing architects, microarchitects, and compiler developers with adynamic, yet coherent, environment within which to design processor systems. Such a system would enhance productivity and design quality by tightening the loop between architectural decision-making andrealistic performance feedback and by allowing for more productive collaboration among the members of a prototyping team. The resulting reduction in design cycle times will counter increasingly restrictivemarket pressures, safeguarding the practicality of designing both new general-purpose microprocessors and application-specific processors (ASIPs), such as those found in networking hardware, cellulartelephones, and next-generation digital devices. Additionally, this research will provide invaluable experiences for both undergraduate and graduate students in computer architecture and compilers. Thissame system is an ideal mechanism by which students can interact with tangible examples of computer architecture and compiler concepts -- it will allow them to rapidly prototype systems, experiment with new ideas, and thereby build intuition about computer systems.