ACOTES project: Advanced compiler technologies for embedded streaming

Streaming applications are built of data-driven, computational components, consuming and producing unbounded data streams. Streaming oriented systems have become dominant in a wide range of domains, including embedded applications and DSPs. However, programming efficiently for streaming architectures is a challenging task, having to carefully partition the computation and map it to processes in a way that best matches the underlying streaming architecture, taking into account the distributed resources (memory, processing, real-time requirements) and communication overheads (processing and delay). These challenges have led to a number of suggested solutions, whose goal is to improve the programmer’s productivity in developing applications that process massive streams of data on programmable, parallel embedded architectures. StreamIt is one such example. Another more recent approach is that developed by the ACOTES project (Advanced Compiler Technologies for Embedded Streaming). The ACOTES approach for streaming applications consists of compiler-assisted mapping of streaming tasks to highly parallel systems in order to maximize cost-effectiveness, both in terms of energy and in terms of design effort. The analysis and transformation techniques automate large parts of the partitioning and mapping process, based on the properties of the application domain, on the quantitative information about the target systems, and on programmer directives. This paper presents the outcomes of the ACOTES project, a 3-year collaborative work of industrial (NXP, ST, IBM, Silicon Hive, NOKIA) and academic (UPC, INRIA, MINES ParisTech) partners, and advocates the use of Advanced Compiler Technologies that we developed to support Embedded Streaming.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The HiPEAC Vision 2017

International audienceInformation technology is one of the cornerstones of modern society and it is evolving rapidly: while the main challenges identified in the HiPEAC Vision 2015 remain valid and have even increased in importance, new challenges are ahead of us.Computers are disappearing from view. They are taking on new forms, such as cars, smart meters, thermostats, and so on. They communicate with their users using voice, sound, pictures and video, closely resembling human interaction. We are entering the Artificial Intelligence era. This will not only change how we interact with machines, but it will also redefine how we instruct a machine what to do: less programming and more learning.The function of the computer is shifting from carrying out computational tasks to provide answers to numerical problems, to working together with humans (what we call the beginning of the Centaur Era), augmenting reality to assist us, or even creating virtual worlds for us to explore: the cyber-physical entanglement between the physical and virtual world.Computers will increasingly interact with the physical world, leading to a expansion from security into safety. Humans need to trust both the machines and the information that they keep about us, and therefore enforcement of security and privacy is of paramount importance.For compute-intensive tasks, we will continue to use the cloud and supercomputers (HPC); this means that connectivity is crucial, yet local processing is becoming increasingly important. The increasing computational requirements are making computer system architects look for accelerators for specialized tasks, diverting in many cases from the traditional Von Neumann architecture.Energy efficiency of computing systems remains a major challenge for the coming years.As the cost per transistor is no longer decreasing, we might see diversified paths for using silicon technology: many designs will not use the latest technology node, but the more mature (and cheaper) one. It is also the right time to revisit the basic assumptions in order to open new tracks and approaches and to eventually reinvent computing.With the flood of new systems and new system architectures, increasing attention must be paid to composability and interoperability between systems. The complexity of the new systems will be so high that human designers will only be able to master it with the help of computers using AI-based techniques. Innovative approaches will be required to ensure that the systems will do what they are supposed to do, both at the functional and at the non-functional level (e.g. timing requirement or reliability). We need to develop design techniques that go beyond predictability by design and allow the building of reliable systems from unreliable parts.Finally, holistic approaches, implying multi-disciplinary techniques, will be needed in order to meet all the requirements of trustability, efficiency and cost

The HiPEAC Vision 2019

International audienceThe current surge of attention around artificial intelligence will hopefully lead to seeking solutions that help increase efficiency, quality and designer productivity for both hardware and software, despite the massively increasing complexity of modern ICT systems. This very much correlates with the “keep it simple for humans, and let the computer do the hard work” element of the 2009 HiPEAC Vision. Intelligent or more “cognitive” solutions need to be developed at the edge (in what will give rise to connected cognitive cyber-physical systems) for safety, privacy and efficiency reasons.Efficiency, particularly energy efficiency, is still a key challenge that will lead to increasing heterogeneity in hardware, with the “classical” silicon processor acting more as an orchestrator of various accelerators, using various technologies (GPU, neuromorphic, quantum computing, and so on). However, there is still no credible “successor” of silicon on the horizon.Software, applications and infrastructures will increasingly be aggregates of heterogeneous artefacts, including legacy ones, with a variety of deployment requirements. Software will be distributed, becoming a “continuum of computing” across platforms and devices. Programming has to be reinvented for this, with languages and tools to orchestrate collaborative distributed and decentralized components, as well as components augmented with interface contracts covering both functional and non-functional properties.To successfully be accepted, our ICT systems should inspire trust in their users, so they should ensure security, privacy and safety, hardening against cyber-attacks.Therefore, the HiPEAC 2019 recommendations for Europe are: • Accelerate, accelerate, specialize and automate• Develop alternative architectures• Build computers we can trust• Get looking for CMOS alternatives• Treat the computing infrastructure as a continuum• Shift value towards the edge• Lead on the use of collective data• Become a leader in energy-efficient sustainable electronics • Invest in the future workforce• Develop a robust digital ethics framework

HiPEAC Vision 2021: High Performance Embedded Architecture And Compilation: Vision 2021

International audienceOur world is evolving very rapidly, bothfrom the technological point of view – withimpressive advances in artificial intelligenceand new hardware challenging longstanding PC hardware traditions, for example –and as a result of unexpected events. Theyear 2020 was quite exceptional, an annushorribilis, according to some. It is hard todisagree with this statement, but every darkcloud has a silver lining. 2020 was also theyear that accelerated digital transformationbeyond what could have been imaginedin 2019. Vaccine development happenedfaster than would ever have been conceivable a year ago, digital payment became thenorm for many people and e-commerceand online sales threatened brick andmortar shops. Employees were encouragedto work from home – with its advantagesand disadvantages, videoconferencingbecame the de facto way to interact withboth family and colleagues, schools wereforced to experiment with distance learning. The list goes on. After living for overa year in an online world, most people willnot return completely to the “old normal”.They will go for a combination of the “oldnormal” and things they discovered andexperimented with in the circumstancesforced upon us by COVID-19; they mightkeep their home office on some days, andbe in the workplace on other days. Highereducation will certainly also continue tooffer online teaching.The rapidly evolving digital world hasalso had an impact on the HiPEAC Vision:updating it every two years no longerseems quite in keeping with the speed ofthe evolution of computing systems. Therefore, we decided to move from producinga large roadmap document every otheryear, to an agile, rapidly evolving electronicmagazine-like set of articles. The HiPEACVision 2021 has two main parts:1) A set of recommendations for theHiPEAC community. It will also introduce the second part of the Vision andwill be updated periodically, or onparticular occasions.2) A set of “articles”, like in magazines, thatwill be regularly updated, the purposeof which is to support the set of recommendations, or to introduce new topicsor situations. This will guarantee thatthe HiPEAC Vision keeps evolving andremains up to date. These articles areintended to be self-sufficient and can beread independently. They are groupedinto four themes or dimensions: technical, business, societal and European. Newarticles will be added over the course ofthe years (and outdated ones might beremoved). A further element of this newapproach to the Vision is that the editorial board asked and will ask variousauthors to contribute to those articles."is adds heterogeneity and a diversityof point of view that could be helpful forbetter analysis of the computing systemslandscape as well as improve the qualityof the recommendations

HiPEAC Vision 2021: High Performance Embedded Architecture And Compilation: Vision 2021

International audienceOur world is evolving very rapidly, bothfrom the technological point of view – withimpressive advances in artificial intelligenceand new hardware challenging longstanding PC hardware traditions, for example –and as a result of unexpected events. Theyear 2020 was quite exceptional, an annushorribilis, according to some. It is hard todisagree with this statement, but every darkcloud has a silver lining. 2020 was also theyear that accelerated digital transformationbeyond what could have been imaginedin 2019. Vaccine development happenedfaster than would ever have been conceivable a year ago, digital payment became thenorm for many people and e-commerceand online sales threatened brick andmortar shops. Employees were encouragedto work from home – with its advantagesand disadvantages, videoconferencingbecame the de facto way to interact withboth family and colleagues, schools wereforced to experiment with distance learning. The list goes on. After living for overa year in an online world, most people willnot return completely to the “old normal”.They will go for a combination of the “oldnormal” and things they discovered andexperimented with in the circumstancesforced upon us by COVID-19; they mightkeep their home office on some days, andbe in the workplace on other days. Highereducation will certainly also continue tooffer online teaching.The rapidly evolving digital world hasalso had an impact on the HiPEAC Vision:updating it every two years no longerseems quite in keeping with the speed ofthe evolution of computing systems. Therefore, we decided to move from producinga large roadmap document every otheryear, to an agile, rapidly evolving electronicmagazine-like set of articles. The HiPEACVision 2021 has two main parts:1) A set of recommendations for theHiPEAC community. It will also introduce the second part of the Vision andwill be updated periodically, or onparticular occasions.2) A set of “articles”, like in magazines, thatwill be regularly updated, the purposeof which is to support the set of recommendations, or to introduce new topicsor situations. This will guarantee thatthe HiPEAC Vision keeps evolving andremains up to date. These articles areintended to be self-sufficient and can beread independently. They are groupedinto four themes or dimensions: technical, business, societal and European. Newarticles will be added over the course ofthe years (and outdated ones might beremoved). A further element of this newapproach to the Vision is that the editorial board asked and will ask variousauthors to contribute to those articles."is adds heterogeneity and a diversityof point of view that could be helpful forbetter analysis of the computing systemslandscape as well as improve the qualityof the recommendations