一种有效的同时多线程处理器取指控制机制

同时多线程处理器通过每时钟周期从多个运行的线程取指令执行,极大地提高了处理器的性能.分支预测器的预测精度和取指策略的效率是影响同时多线程处理器性能的关键.通过将一个基于值的分支预测器和一个基于线程推进速度的取指策略相结合,提出一种新的取指控制机制.该结构的硬件开销较小,实现复杂度较低.实验结果表明,该取指控制机制有效地提高了处理器的性能,其相对于传统取指控制机制的性能加速比为28%且该加速比也高于目前基于流缓冲区和基于分支分类器的取指控制机制.     

基于同时多线程的IFSBSMT取指策略研究

取指策略直接影响处理器的指令吞吐率.针对传统处理器取指策略存在取指带宽利用不均衡、指令队列冲突率高的缺点,提出基于同时多线程处理器的取指策略IFSBSMT.该策略以线程的IPC值为基础,速取优先级高的线程进行取指,并利用预取指令条数预算的方式分配取指带宽,采取线程IPC值和L2 Cache缺失率的双优先级动态资源分配机制分配处理器的系统资源.研究结果表明,IFSBSMT策略有效地解决了取指带宽、指令队列冲突及资源浪费问题,进一步提高了指令吞吐率,且具有较好的取指公平性.     

基于EPIC的同时多线程处理器取指策略

EPIC硬件简单，同时多线程易于开发线程级并行，在EPIC上实现同时多线程可以结合二者的优点。取指策略对同时多线程处理器的性能有重要影响。该文介绍了几种有代表性的超标量同时多线程处理器取指策略，分析了这些策略在EPIC同时多线程处理器上的适用性，提出了一种新的适用于EPIC的取指策略SICOUNT。分析表明SICOUNT策略可以充分利用EPIC软硬件协同的优势，在选择取指线程时使用编译器所提供的停顿信息，能更精确地估计各个线程的流动速度，使取出指令的质量更高。     

基于负载瞬时IPC性能的同时多线程处理器取指策略

同时多线程处理器在每时钟周期从多个线程读取指令执行,极大地提高了指令吞吐率.文中简单介绍了SMT技术,讨论了常用的取指策略,比较了各策略在提高性能方面的优劣.给出特定负载下理论上的最优取指策略,在此基础上提出一种基于负载瞬时IPC性能的动态取指策略IPCBFP.实验表明,该策略可以有效地提高负载的性能,平均加速比对于两线程负载可以达到17%,对于四线程负载可以达到8%.该策略还具有平均占用指令队列项少,指令队列冲突率低的特点,而且,对降低SMT的Cache失效率和TLB失效率方面也有一定的作用.     

基于线程级的同时多线程处理器功耗评估

针对同时多线程处理器中每个线程的功耗评估问题,提出一种同时多线程基于线程级的功耗评估方法。该方法可使系统在运行过程中统计出各线程对各部件的详细功耗情况,方便地衡量在多线程运行时各线程所产生的功耗。为同时多线程处理器进行基于功耗已知的线程调度和取指策略研究提供了基础条件。实验结果表明,各线程的功耗之和与总功耗相等。     

冗余多线程结构的重命名寄存器配对共享分配策略

同时多线程处理器允许多个线程同时执行,一方面提高了处理器的性能,另一方面也为通过线程冗余执行来容错提供了支持.冗余多线程结构将线程复制成两份,二者独立执行,并比较结果,从而实现检错或者容错.冗余多线程结构主要采用ICOUNT调度策略来解决线程间资源共享问题.然而这种策略有可能造成"饥饿"现象,并降低处理器吞吐率.提出一...     

同时多线程处理器共享资源的特性分析

同时多线程处理器中同时执行的线程共享处理器中的资源,而这些有限的共享资源在线程之间的分配状况将决定每个线程执行的性能和处理器的总体性能。如何根据不同类别共享资源的特性对它们进行合理有效分配成为同时多线程处理器研究的重要课题之一。本文对同时多线程处理器中各类共享资源的特性进行深入研究与分析,分析结果表明,队列类共享资源的分配方式对每个线程执行的性能和SMT处理器的总体性能具有至关重要的影响。因此,同时多线程处理器中共享资源分配的关键在于控制队列类共享资源的分配。     

使用取指策略控制同时多线程处理器中个体线程的性能

当前,对同时多线程(Si multaneous Multithreading,SMT)处理器取指策略的研究大都集中在总体性能的优化上.文中提出一种新颖的SMT处理器取指策略(Controlling Performance of Individual Thread,CPIT),用于控制个体线程的执行.结果表明,对于模拟的所有负载,CPIT在94%以上的情况下都能保证受控线程获得期望性能.而对于失败的情况,受控线程的平均性能偏差不超过1.25%.此外,CPIT策略对处理器总体性能的影响并不大.与ICOUNT这种以优化性能为目标的取指策略相比,总体性能的平均降低不超过3%,而除受控线程外的其他线程的性能平均只降低了1.75%.     

基于共享cache多核处理器的数据库内存排序优化

针对目前主流的多核处理器,提出了共享cache敏感的数据库排序多线程执行框架(sharedcache sensitive multithreaded sorting framework,SCS-MSF).首先分析了多线程QuickSort排序在共享cache多核处理器中执行时面临的性能瓶颈,在此基础上针对SCS-MSF每个处理阶段的数据访问特点,提出了各自的多线程并行执行模式,并通过各种优化策略改善线程执行时的cache性能,特别是减少多线程访问共享cache时的访问冲突问题,以提高线程的cache性能.在实验中,基于内存数据库EaseDB实现了SCS-MSF.实验结果表明SCS-MSF具有良好cache访问性能,从而提高了多线程执行的效率,而且性能稳定,数据库排序性能得到了较大提高.     

基于线程流水线的多核线程调度策略

针对多核环境中操作系统的线程调度问题,提出一种基于线程流水线的线程调度策略。基于片上多线程处理器,借鉴流水线技术的并行优势,引入线程流水线的概念。通过确定线程特征指标,计算线程流水线的聚合度及对应线程的吻合度,从而完成线程调度,并在此基础上对其进行嵌入式方向的优化。模拟真实环境的实验结果表明,与基于静态优先级的调度策略相比,该策略消耗时间较少。     

DLL-conscious instruction fetch optimization for SMT processors

Simultaneous multithreading (SMT) processors can issue multiple instructions from distinct processes or threads in the same cycle. This technique effectively increases the overall throughput by keeping the pipeline resources more occupied at the potential expense of reducing single thread performance due to resource sharing. In the software domain, an increasing number of dynamically linked libraries (DLL) are used by applications and operating systems, providing better flexibility and modularity, and enabling code sharing. It is observed that a significant amount of execution time in software today is spent in executing standard DLL instructions, that are shared among multiple threads or processes. However, for an SMT processor with a virtually-indexed cache implementation, existing instruction fetching mechanisms can induce unnecessary false I-TLB and I-Cache misses caused by the DLL-based instructions that are intended to be shared. This problem is more prominent when multiple independent threads are executing concurrently on an SMT processor.In this work, we investigate a neglected form of contention between running threads in the I-TLB and I-Cache (including both VIVT and VIPT) due to DLLs. To address these shortcomings, we propose a system level technique involving a light-weight modification in the microarchitecture and the OS. By exploiting the nature of the DLLs in our optimized system, we can reinstate the intended sharing of the DLLs in an SMT machine. Using Microsoft Windows based applications, our simulation results show that the optimized instruction fetching mechanism can reduce the number of DLL misses up to 5.5 times and improve the instruction cache hit rates by up to 62%, resulting in up to 30% DLL IPC improvements and up to 15% overall IPC improvements.     

一种提高同时多线程VLIW处理器中取指单元吞吐率的方法

在同时多线程处理器中,提高取指单元的吞吐率意味着各线程之间的Cache竞争更加激烈,而这种竞争又制约着取指单元吞吐率的提高。本文针对当前超长指令字体系结构的新特点,提出了一种同时提高取指单元和处理器吞吐率的方法。该方法通过尽可能早地作废取指流水线中的无效地址,减少了由无效取指导致的程序Cache冲突,也提高了整个处理器的性能。实验结果表明,该方法使处理器和取指单元的吞吐率均相对提高了12%～23%,而一级程序Cache的失效率则略微增加甚至降低。另外,它还能够减少10%～25%的一级程
程序Cache读访问,从而降低了处理器的功耗。     

Optimizing Instruction Scheduling through Combined In-Order and O-O-O Execution in SMT Processors

The resource sharing nature of Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) processors and the presence of long latency instructions from concurrent threads make the instruction scheduling window (IW), which is a primary shared component among key pipeline structures in SMT, a performance bottleneck. Due to the tight constraints on its physical size, the IW faces more severe pressure to handle the instructions from various threads while attempting to avoid resource monopolization by some low-ILP threads. It is particularly challenging to optimize the efficiency and fairness in IW utilization to fulfill the affordable performance by SMT under the shadow of long latency instructions. Most of the existing optimization schemes in SMT processors rely on the fetch policy to control the instructions that are allowed to enter the pipeline, while little effort is put to control the long latency instructions that are already located in the IW. In this paper, we propose streamline buffers to handle the long latency instructions that have already entered the pipeline and clog the IW, while the controlling fetch policies take time to react. Each streamline buffer extracts from IW and holds a chain of instructions from a thread that are stalled by dependency on a long latency load.     

Adaptive dynamic thread scheduling for simultaneous multithreaded architectures with a detector thread

Simultaneous multithreading (SMT) is an architectural technique that improves resource utilization by allowing instructions from multiple threads to coexist in a processor and share resources. However, earlier studies have shown that the performance of an SMT architecture begins to saturate as the number of coexisting threads increases beyond four. We show that no single fetch policy can be the best solution during the entire execution time and that a significant performance improvement can be attained by dynamically switching the fetch policies. We propose an implementation method which includes an extremely lightweight thread to control fetch policies (a detector thread) and a processor architecture to run the detector thread without impact on the user application threads. We evaluate various heuristics for the detector thread to determine the best fetch policies. We show that, with eight threads running on our simulated SMT, the proposed approach can outperform fixed scheduling mechanisms by up to 30%.     

一种精确的分支预测微处理器模型

在当今深流水宽发射的微处理器中，为实现高性能，精确的分支预测是不可缺少的关键技术．分支预测失效将浪费大量的时钟周期，无法发挥乱序执行的效能．宽发射微处理器的有效性能同时还依赖指令窗口的大小和指令预取宽度．提出了一种新的更精确的支持分支预测和分支误预测周期损失的微处理器模型．根据指令的执行带宽为指令窗口中可用指令数的平方根统计规律，给出了一个更为精确的描述微处理器取指带宽、分支预测精度、分支误预测周期损失、指令窗口大小和IPC之间关系的算法，并讨论了这些参数的综合权衡以及这些参数对程序IPC的影响．由此可以确定依赖多个微处理器参数的取指带宽阈值和微处理器中几个关键参数的选取．