DVFS Virtualization for Energy Minimization of Mixed-Criticality Dual-OS Platforms

Recent embedded systems require both traditional machinery control and information processing, such as network and GUI handling. A dual-OS platform consolidates a real-time OS (RTOS) and general-purpose OS (GPOS) to realize efficient software development on one physical processor. Although the dual-OS platform attracts increasing attention, it often suffers from energy inefficiency in the GPOS for guaranteeing real-time responses of the RTOS. This paper proposes an energy minimization method called DVFS virtualization, which allows running multiple DVFS policies dedicated to the RTOS and GPOS, respectively. The experimental evaluation using a commercial microcontroller showed that the proposed hardware could change the supply voltage within 500 ns and reduce the energy consumption of typical applications by 60 % in the best case compared to conventional dual-OS platforms. Furthermore, evaluation using a commercial microprocessor achieved a 15 % energy reduction of practical open-source software at best.

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“…This paper extends our previous work [1]. We additionally show how the proposed method can be applied to a large-scale application processor.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 68%

“…Figure 14 shows the change in energy consumption per unit time E 0 /T for different CPU utilization rates of the RTOS U RT and the GPOS U GP . The energy consumption linearly and positively depends on U RT and U GP according to (1).…”

Section: Previous Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%