Automatic calibration of streaming applications for software mapping exploration

Abstract

Streaming models have lately gained a lot of interest in embedded software design as they closely resemble computation of signal processing applications typically found in wireless and multimedia domains. To map streaming applications ontoMPSoCs (Multi-Processor System-on-Chips) efficiently, programmers need not only to validate software but also to estimate the performance of their software accurately. Therefore, fast MPSoC virtual platforms which support fully functional execution of software with good timing accuracy are required. In this paper, we propose a tool-flow to construct such MPSoC virtual platforms. The key idea is to annotate timing of sequential execution of streaming applications automatically by calibration in a configurable abstract MPSoC virtual platform. A case study of applying the tool-flow to a real-life heterogeneous MPSoC, TI's OMAP, has been conducted to prove the tool-flow's feasibility and show good accuracy of the calibrated virtual platform for software mapping exploration.