Collaborative Research: Eliminating the Energy Efficiency Barrier of Reconfigurable Architectures for Diverse Signal Processing in Mobile Devices

目标：该项目的目标是将粗粒度可重构器件和高度可扩展的非易失性存储器技术结合起来，从根本上提高未来移动设备的能效。新的器件架构提供了动态利用大多数信号处理任务中固有的显著运行时计算工作负载变化和大算法设计自由度的能力，有效地实现了刚刚足够的计算。该方法包含了许多信号处理任务的内存密集型和时变特性，可以利用它来降低整体系统能耗。此外，这些方法使得在可重构架构上应用积极的运行时电源管理以最小化静态能耗成为可能。为了充分评估这些新机会的潜力，需要使用包括电路、架构、编译器和运行时系统在内的综合设计方法。智力优势：本研究的智力优势在于内聚集成和使用粗粒度可重构器件，其中包括高密度非易失性存储器技术的接口。该接口在系统级被利用来动态适应计算密集型信号处理应用，从而显著节省能源。更广泛的影响：该项目的更广泛的影响是：1)增强嵌入式系统和集成电路设计的研究生课程，2)新技术在nsf资助的协同和自适应大气传感工程研究中心（CASA）的应用，3)教育和培训的研究基础设施传播，以及4)向高中生推广。拟议的架构将使未来的移动设备能够通过支持能源效率继续跟踪其历史性能和功能扩展。

Objective: The objective of this program is to cohesively use coarse-grained reconfigurable devices and highly-scalable non-volatile memory technologies to fundamentally improve energy efficiency in future mobile devices. The new device architecture provides the capability to dynamically exploit significant run-time computational workload variation and large algorithm design freedom inherent in most signal processing tasks, effectively enabling just-enough computation. The approach embraces the memory-intensive and time-varying nature of many signal processing tasks, which can be leveraged to reduce overall system energy consumption. In addition, these approaches make it feasible to apply aggressive run-time power management on reconfigurable architectures to minimize static energy consumption. To fully evaluate the potential of these new opportunities, a comprehensive design methodology including circuits, architectures, compiler, and run-time system is used. Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit of this research lies in the cohesive integration and use of a coarse-grained reconfigurable device which includes interfaces to high-density non-volatile memory technology. This interface is exploited at the system level to dynamically adapt computation-intensive signal processing applications for significant energy savings. Broader Impacts: The broader impacts of this project are: 1) enhancement to graduate curricula in embedded systems and integrated circuit design, 2) application of the new technologies in the NSF-sponsored Engineering Research Center for Collaborative and Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA), 3) research infrastructure dissemination for education and training, and 4) outreach to high school students. The proposed architecture will enable future mobile devices to continue to track their historic performance and functionality scaling by supporting energy efficiency.