Safe code transfromations for speculative execution in real-time systems

Although compiler optimization techniques are standard and successful in non-real-time systems, if naively applied, they can destroy safety guarantees and deadlines in hard real-time systems. For this reason, real-time systems developers have tended to avoid automatic compiler optimization of their code. However, real-time applications in several areas have been growing substantially in size and complexity in recent years. This size and complexity makes it impossible for real-time programmers to write optimal code, and consequently indicates a need for compiler optimization. Recently researchers have developed or modified analyses and transformations to improve performance without degrading worst-case execution times. Moreover, these optimization techniques can sometimes transform programs which may not meet constraints/deadlines, or which result in timeouts, into deadline-satisfying programs. One such technique, speculative execution, also used for example in parallel computing and databases, can enhance performance by executing parts of the code whose execution may or may not be needed. In some cases, rollback is necessary if the computation turns out to be invalid. However, speculative execution must be applied carefully to real-time systems so that the worst-case execution path is not extended. Deterministic worst-case execution for satisfying hard real-time constraints, and speculative execution with rollback for improving average-case throughput, appear to lie on opposite ends of a spectrum of performance requirements and strategies. Deterministic worst-case execution for satisfying hard real-time constraints, and speculative execution with rollback for improving average-case throughput, appear to lie on opposite ends of a spectrum of performance requirements and strategies. Nonetheless, this thesis shows that there are situations in which speculative execution can improve the performance of a hard real-time system, either by enhancing average performance while not affecting the worst-case, or by actually decreasing the worst-case execution time. The thesis proposes a set of compiler transformation rules to identify opportunities for speculative execution and to transform the code. Proofs for semantic correctness and timeliness preservation are provided to verify safety of applying transformation rules to real-time systems. Moreover, an extensive experiment using simulation of randomly generated real-time programs have been conducted to evaluate applicability and profitability of speculative execution. The simulation results indicate that speculative execution improves average execution time and program timeliness. Finally, a prototype implementation is described in which these transformations can be evaluated for realistic applications

Web collaboration for software engineering

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informática e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

High-level compiler analysis for OpenMP

Nowadays, applications from dissimilar domains, such as high-performance computing and high-integrity systems, require levels of performance that can only be achieved by means of sophisticated heterogeneous architectures. However, the complex nature of such architectures hinders the production of efficient code at acceptable levels of time and cost. Moreover, the need for exploiting parallelism adds complications of its own (e.g., deadlocks, race conditions,...). In this context, compiler analysis is fundamental for optimizing parallel programs. There is however a trade-off between complexity and profit: low complexity analyses (e.g., reaching definitions) provide information that may be insufficient for many relevant transformations, and complex analyses based on mathematical representations (e.g., polyhedral model) give accurate results at a high computational cost. A range of parallel programming models providing different levels of programmability, performance and portability enable the exploitation of current architectures. However, OpenMP has proved many advantages over its competitors: 1) it delivers levels of performance comparable to highly tunable models such as CUDA and MPI, and better robustness than low level libraries such as Pthreads; 2) the extensions included in the latest specification meet the characteristics of current heterogeneous architectures (i.e., the coupling of a host processor to one or more accelerators, and the capability of expressing fine-grained, both structured and unstructured, and highly-dynamic task parallelism); 3) OpenMP is widely implemented by several chip (e.g., Kalray MPPA, Intel) and compiler (e.g., GNU, Intel) vendors; and 4) although currently the model lacks resiliency and reliability mechanisms, many works, including this thesis, pursue their introduction in the specification. This thesis addresses the study of compiler analysis techniques for OpenMP with two main purposes: 1) enhance the programmability and reliability of OpenMP, and 2) prove OpenMP as a suitable model to exploit parallelism in safety-critical domains. Particularly, the thesis focuses on the tasking model because it offers the flexibility to tackle the parallelization of algorithms with load imbalance, recursiveness and uncountable loop based kernels. Additionally, current works have proved the time-predictability of this model, shortening the distance towards its introduction in safety-critical domains. To enable the analysis of applications using the OpenMP tasking model, the first contribution of this thesis is the extension of a set of classic compiler techniques with support for OpenMP. As a basis for including reliability mechanisms, the second contribution consists of the development of a series of algorithms to statically detect situations involving OpenMP tasks, which may lead to a loss of performance, non-deterministic results or run-time failures. A well-known problem of parallel processing related to compilers is the static scheduling of a program represented by a directed graph. Although the literature is extensive in static scheduling techniques, the work related to the generation of the task graph at compile-time is very scant. Compilers are limited by the knowledge they can extract, which depends on the application and the programming model. The third contribution of this thesis is the generation of a predicated task dependency graph for OpenMP that can be interpreted by the runtime in such a way that the cost of solving dependences is reduced to the minimum. With the previous contributions as a basis for determining the functional safety of OpenMP, the final contribution of this thesis is the adaptation of OpenMP to the safety-critical domain considering two directions: 1) indicating how OpenMP can be safely used in such a domain, and 2) integrating OpenMP into Ada, a language widely used in the safety-critical domain.Actualment, aplicacions de dominis diversos com la computació d'altes prestacions i els sistemes d'alta integritat, requereixen nivells de rendiment assolibles només mitjançant arquitectures heterogènies sofisticades. No obstant, la natura complexa d'aquestes dificulta la producció de codi eficient en un temps i cost acceptables. A més, la necessitat d’explotar paral·lelisme introdueix complicacions en sí mateixa (p. ex. bloqueig mutu, condicions de carrera,...). En aquest context, l'anàlisi de compiladors és fonamental per optimitzar programes paral·lels. Existeix però un equilibri entre complexitat i beneficis: la informació obtinguda amb anàlisis simples (p. ex. definicions abastables) pot ser insuficient per moltes transformacions rellevants, i anàlisis complexos basats en models matemàtics (p. ex. model polièdric) faciliten resultats acurats a un alt cost computacional. Existeixen molts models de programació paral·lela que proporcionen diferents nivells de programabilitat, rendiment i portabilitat per l'explotació de les arquitectures actuals. En aquest marc, OpenMP ha demostrat molts avantatges respecte dels seus competidors: 1) el seu nivell de rendiment és comparable a models molt ajustables com CUDA i MPI, i proporciona més robustesa que llibreries de baix nivell com Pthreads; 2) les extensions que inclou la darrera especificació satisfan les característiques de les actuals arquitectures heterogènies (és a dir, l’acoblament d’un processador principal i un o més acceleradors, i la capacitat d'expressar paral·lelisme de tasques de gra fi, ja sigui estructurat o sense estructura; 3) OpenMP és àmpliament implementat per venedors de xips (p. ex. Kalray MPPA, Intel) i compiladors (p. ex. GNU, Intel); i 4) tot i que el model actual manca de mecanismes de resiliència i fiabilitat, molts treballs, incloent aquesta tesi, busquen la seva introducció a l'especificació. Aquesta tesi adreça l'estudi de tècniques d’anàlisi de compiladors amb dos objectius: 1) millorar la programabilitat i la fiabilitat de OpenMP, i 2) provar que OpenMP és un model adequat per explotar paral·lelisme en sistemes crítics. En particular, la tesi es centra en el model de tasques per què aquest ofereix la flexibilitat per abordar aplicacions amb problemes de balanceig de càrrega, recursivitat i bucles incomptables. A més, treballs recents han provat la predictibilitat en qüestió de temps del model, escurçant la distància cap a la seva introducció en sistemes crítics. Per a poder analitzar aplicacions que utilitzen el model de tasques d’OpenMP, la primera contribució d’aquesta tesi consisteix en l’extensió d'un conjunt de tècniques clàssiques de compilació per suportar OpenMP. Com a base per incloure mecanismes de fiabilitat, la segona contribució consisteix en el desenvolupament duna sèrie d'algorismes per detectar de forma estàtica situacions que involucren tasques d’OpenMP, i que poden conduir a una pèrdua de rendiment, resultats no deterministes, o fallades en temps d’execució. Un problema ben conegut del processament paral·lel relacionat amb els compiladors és la planificació estàtica d’un programa representat mitjançant un graf dirigit. Tot i que la literatura sobre planificació estàtica és extensa, aquella relacionada amb la generació del graf en temps de compilació és molt escassa. Els compiladors estan limitats pel coneixement que poden extreure, que depèn de l’aplicació i del model de programació. La tercera contribució de la tesi és la generació d’un graf de dependències enriquit que pot ser interpretat pel sistema en temps d’execució de manera que el cost de resoldre les dependències sigui mínim. Amb les anteriors contribucions com a base per a determinar la seguretat funcional de OpenMP, la darrera contribució de la tesi consisteix en adaptar OpenMP a sistemes crítics, explorant dues direccions: 1) indicar com OpenMP es pot utilitzar de forma segura en un domini com, i 2) integrar OpenMP en Ada, un llenguatge molt utilitzat en el domini de seguretat.Postprint (published version

A dynamic compiler for Scheme

Traditionally, dynamically-typed languages have been difficult to compile efficiently. This thesis explores dynamic compilation, a recently developed technique for compiling dynamically-typed languages. A dynamic compiler compiles and optimizes programs as they execute, using information collected from the running program to perform optimizations that are impossible to perform in a conventional batch compiler. To explore these techniques we developed SKI, a dynamic compiler for Scheme. Tests on programs compiled by SKI, have shown that dynamic compilation techniques can give a substantial increase in the performance Scheme programs. In some cases they can increase performance by up to 400%

Development of PCI Embedded Card Useful for Microcontroller Trainer

Not availabl

Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Reconfigurable Communication-centric Systems on Chip 2010 - ReCoSoC\u2710 - May 17-19, 2010 Karlsruhe, Germany. (KIT Scientific Reports ; 7551)

ReCoSoC is intended to be a periodic annual meeting to expose and discuss gathered expertise as well as state of the art research around SoC related topics through plenary invited papers and posters. The workshop aims to provide a prospective view of tomorrow\u27s challenges in the multibillion transistor era, taking into account the emerging techniques and architectures exploring the synergy between flexible on-chip communication and system reconfigurability

The 1993 Goddard Conference on Space Applications of Artificial Intelligence

This publication comprises the papers presented at the 1993 Goddard Conference on Space Applications of Artificial Intelligence held at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD on May 10-13, 1993. The purpose of this annual conference is to provide a forum in which current research and development directed at space applications of artificial intelligence can be presented and discussed

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Digital Preservation

The 12th International Conference on Digital Preservation (iPRES) was held on November 2-6, 2015 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. There were 327 delegates from 22 countries. The program included 12 long papers, 15 short papers, 33 posters, 3 demos, 6 workshops, 3 tutorials and 5 panels, as well as several interactive sessions and a Digital Preservation Showcase

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Digital Preservation

The 12th International Conference on Digital Preservation (iPRES) was held on November 2-6, 2015 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. There were 327 delegates from 22 countries. The program included 12 long papers, 15 short papers, 33 posters, 3 demos, 6 workshops, 3 tutorials and 5 panels, as well as several interactive sessions and a Digital Preservation Showcase