A Model-Driven Approach for Hybrid Power Estimation in Embedded Systems Design

Abstract

As technology scales for increased circuit density and performance, the management of power consumption in system-on-chip (SoC) is becoming critical. Today, having the appropriate electronic system level (ESL) tools for power estimation in the design flow is mandatory. The main challenge for the design of such dedicated tools is to achieve a better tradeoff between accuracy and speed. This paper presents a consumption estimation approach allowing taking the consumption criterion into account early in the design flow during the system cosimulation. The originality of this approach is that it allows the power estimation for both white-box intellectual properties (IPs) using annotated power models and black-box IPs using standalone power estimators. In order to obtain accurate power estimates, our simulations were performed at the cycle-accurate bit-accurate (CABA) level, using SystemC. To make our approach fast and not tedious for users, the simulated architectures, including standalone power estimators, were generated automatically using a model driven engineering (MDE) approach. Both annotated power models and standalone power estimators can be used together to estimate the consumption of the same architecture, which makes them complementary. The simulation results showed that the power estimates given by both estimation techniques for a hardware component are very close, with a difference that does not exceed 0.3%. This proves that, even when the IP code is not accessible or not modifiable, our approach allows obtaining quite accurate power estimates that early in the design flow thanks to the automation offered by the MDE approach.

On Exploiting Energy-Aware Scheduling Algorithms for MDE-Based Design Space Exploration of MP2SoC

“…Similar to GAS-PARD2, which uses the MARTE profile for power specification, the TTool DSE toolkit integrates power concepts in its DIPLODOCUS UML profile. MDE-based methodologies for the power estimation of MPSoC systems defined in [14] and [15] were integrated in the Gaspard2 framework. In [14], the proposed methodology allows one to automatically generate system descriptions at Cycle-Accurate Bit-Accurate (CABA) and Programmers View with Timing (PVT) simulation levels.…”

“…In [14], the proposed methodology allows one to automatically generate system descriptions at Cycle-Accurate Bit-Accurate (CABA) and Programmers View with Timing (PVT) simulation levels. The same approach was adopted in [15]. The generated simulated architectures in [14] and [15] are used to estimate power consumption.…”

“…The same approach was adopted in [15]. The generated simulated architectures in [14] and [15] are used to estimate power consumption. Comparing these related works with our approach, we can observe that none of them uses energyaware scheduling algorithms for the high-level design space exploration of MP2SoC systems.…”

Model-driven disaster management

“…Three important elements are required for the realization of a model-driven approach: a model, a metamodel and model transformations (Trabelsi, Atitallah, Meftali, Dekeyser, & Jemai, 2011). A model is the abstract representation of domain in the real world and has two key elements: concepts (characterizes things) and relationships (characterizes links between these things in the real world).…”

Evaluating Disaster Management Knowledge Model by Using a Frequency-Based Selection Technique

“…In metamodel, concept and relationships are two important elements. A concept characterizes domain entities and relationships characterizes links between them [9]. Metamodel must form true or faithful representations so that queries of a model give reliable statements about reality, or manipulations of the model result in reliable adaptations of reality.…”