ElasticSimMATE: A fast and accurate gem5 trace-driven simulator for multicore systems

Abstract

Multicore system analysis requires efficient solutions for architectural parameter and scalability exploration. Long simulation time is the main drawback of current simulation approaches. In order to reduce the simulation time while keeping the accuracy levels, trace-driven simulation approaches have been developed. However, existing approaches do not allow multicore exploration or do not capture the behavior of multithreaded programs. Based on the gem5 simulator, we developed a novel synchronization mechanism for multicore analysis based on the trace collection of synchronization events, instruction and dependencies. It allows efficient architectural parameter and scalability exploration with acceptable simulation speed and accuracy.