CPA-CSA: Accelerating Architectural-level, Full-system Multiprocessor Simulations using FPGAs

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

The programmability challenges to general-purpose parallel computing desperately need computer hardware and software researchers to work together on the solutions. However, the unacceptably slow speed of current full-system simulators limits the multiprocessor/multi-core research. The proposed ProtoFlex project develops an FPGA-accelerated simulation technology to deliver the necessary simulation performance to enable full-scale software research on top of simulated experimental architectures. ProtoFlex simulators are not FPGA prototypes. The ProtoFlex simulation architecture relies on hardware virtualization to achieve full-system fidelity and system scalability, while mitigating the complexities associated with conventional FPGA prototyping. This project will develop a hybrid simulation with transplanting and with interleaving of multiple processor contexts, with the goal to decouple the required complexity of the hardware construction from the complexity of a very large target multiprocessor system. This project will also investigate in-hardware techniques for real-time, deep instrumentation and analysis of simulation events.