Multicore software engineering

Heterogeneous Multicore Processor The following figure notionally shows how these 14 applications could be allocated to four different operating systems, which in turn are allocated to four different cores, in a heterogeneous, quad-core processor. Current Trends in Multicore Processing Multicore processors are replacing traditional, single-core processors so that fewer single-core processors are being produced and supported.

Pros of Multicore Processing Multicore processing is typically commonplace because it offers advantages in the following seven areas: Energy Efficiency. By using multicore processors, architects can decrease the number of embedded computers. They overcome increased heat generation due to Moore's Law i. The use of multicore processing reduces power consumption less energy wasted as heat , which increases battery life.

True Concurrency. By allocating applications to different cores, multicore processing increases the intrinsic support for actual as opposed to virtual parallel processing within individual software applications across multiple applications. Multicore processing can increase performance by running multiple applications concurrently. The decreased distance between cores on an integrated chip enables shorter resource access latency and higher cache speeds when compared to using separate processors or computers.

However, the size of the performance increase depends on the number of cores, the level of real concurrency in the actual software, and the use of shared resources.

Multicore processors may improve but do not guarantee spatial and temporal isolation segregation compared to single-core architectures. Software running on one core is less likely to affect software on another core than if both are executing on the same single core. This decoupling is due to both spatial isolation of data in core-specific cashes and temporal isolation, because threads on one core are not delayed by threads on another core.

Multicore processing may also improve robustness by localizing the impact of defects to single core. This increased isolation is particularly important in the independent execution of mixed-criticality applications mission-critical, safety critical, and security-critical. Reliability and Robustness. Allocating software to multiple cores increases reliability and robustness i. The allocation of software to multiple cores also supports failure tolerance by supporting failover from one core to another and subsequent recovery.

Obsolescence Avoidance. The use of multicore processors enables architects to avoid technological obsolescence and improve maintainability. Chip manufacturers are applying the latest technical advances to their multicore chips. As the number of cores continues to increase, it becomes increasingly hard to obtain single-core chips.

Hardware Costs. By using multicore processors, architects can produce systems with fewer computers and processors. Cons of Multicore Processing Although there are many advantages to moving to multicore processors, architects must address disadvantages and associated risks in the following six areas: Shared Resources. These shared resources imply 1 the existence of single points of failure, 2 two applications running on the same core can interfere with each other, and 3 software running on one core can impact software running on another core i.

The diagram below uses the color red to illustrate six shared resources. Interference occurs when software executing on one core impacts the behavior of software executing on other cores in the same processor. Temporal isolation is a bigger problem than spatial isolation since multicore processors may have special hardware that can be used to enforce spatial isolation to prevent software running on different cores from accessing the same processor-internal memory.

The number of interference paths increases rapidly with the number of cores and the exhaustive analysis of all interference paths is often impossible. The impracticality of exhaustive analysis necessitates the selection of representative interference paths when analyzing isolation. The following diagram uses the color red to illustrate three possible interference paths between pairs of applications involving six shared resources.

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More options. Find it at other libraries via WorldCat Limited preview. Philippsen, Michael. Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and author index.

The 9 revised papers, 4 of which are short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 24 submissions. The papers address new work on optimization of multicore software, program analysis, and automatic parallelization. They also provide new perspectives on programming models as well as on applications of multicore systems.

Parallel programming Computer science Software engineering. Computer science. Computer system performance. System Performance and Evaluation.