BSAA: A switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation

Tom English; Ka Lok Man; Emanuel Popovici

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-11802-9_26

BSAA: A switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation

Tom English^*, Ka Lok Man, Emanuel Popovici

^*Corresponding author for this work

University College Cork

Research output: Chapter in Book or Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Proceeding › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

We present Bus Switching Activity Analyser (BSAA), a switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation. BSAA reads switching metrics from RTL simulation, reporting the most active buses and hierarchies. Buses with typical address and data bus traffic are identified automatically. The tool can process multiple simulation runs simultaneously, analysing how switching varies with input data or software code. BSAA complements commercial tools, helping the designer find opportunities to apply power-saving techniques. To illustrate BSAA's powerful features, we analyse switching in an MP3 decoder design using several audio inputs and in a microcontroller running a suite of software tasks. We demonstrate the tool's usefulness by applying it in the power optimisation of a small MPSoC, obtaining on average a 60% reduction in dynamic power across five software tasks and identifying opportunities to reduce static power.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Integrated Circuit and System Design
Subtitle of host publication	Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation - 19th International Workshop, PATMOS 2009, Revised Selected Papers
Pages	216-226
Number of pages	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11802-9_26
Publication status	Published - 2010
Externally published	Yes
Event	19th International Workshop on Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation, PATMOS 2009 - Delft, Netherlands Duration: 9 Sept 2009 → 11 Sept 2009

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume	5953 LNCS
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	19th International Workshop on Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation, PATMOS 2009
Country/Territory	Netherlands
City	Delft
Period	9/09/09 → 11/09/09

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-642-11802-9_26

Cite this

English, T., Lok Man, K., & Popovici, E. (2010). BSAA: A switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation. In Integrated Circuit and System Design: Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation - 19th International Workshop, PATMOS 2009, Revised Selected Papers (pp. 216-226). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 5953 LNCS). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11802-9_26

English, Tom ; Lok Man, Ka ; Popovici, Emanuel. / BSAA : A switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation. Integrated Circuit and System Design: Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation - 19th International Workshop, PATMOS 2009, Revised Selected Papers. 2010. pp. 216-226 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)).

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title = "BSAA: A switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation",

abstract = "We present Bus Switching Activity Analyser (BSAA), a switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation. BSAA reads switching metrics from RTL simulation, reporting the most active buses and hierarchies. Buses with typical address and data bus traffic are identified automatically. The tool can process multiple simulation runs simultaneously, analysing how switching varies with input data or software code. BSAA complements commercial tools, helping the designer find opportunities to apply power-saving techniques. To illustrate BSAA's powerful features, we analyse switching in an MP3 decoder design using several audio inputs and in a microcontroller running a suite of software tasks. We demonstrate the tool's usefulness by applying it in the power optimisation of a small MPSoC, obtaining on average a 60% reduction in dynamic power across five software tasks and identifying opportunities to reduce static power.",

author = "Tom English and {Lok Man}, Ka and Emanuel Popovici",

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doi = "10.1007/978-3-642-11802-9_26",

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English, T, Lok Man, K & Popovici, E 2010, BSAA: A switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation. in Integrated Circuit and System Design: Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation - 19th International Workshop, PATMOS 2009, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 5953 LNCS, pp. 216-226, 19th International Workshop on Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation, PATMOS 2009, Delft, Netherlands, 9/09/09. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11802-9_26

BSAA: A switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation. / English, Tom; Lok Man, Ka; Popovici, Emanuel.
Integrated Circuit and System Design: Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation - 19th International Workshop, PATMOS 2009, Revised Selected Papers. 2010. p. 216-226 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 5953 LNCS).

Research output: Chapter in Book or Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Proceeding › peer-review

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T1 - BSAA

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AU - English, Tom

AU - Lok Man, Ka

AU - Popovici, Emanuel

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N2 - We present Bus Switching Activity Analyser (BSAA), a switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation. BSAA reads switching metrics from RTL simulation, reporting the most active buses and hierarchies. Buses with typical address and data bus traffic are identified automatically. The tool can process multiple simulation runs simultaneously, analysing how switching varies with input data or software code. BSAA complements commercial tools, helping the designer find opportunities to apply power-saving techniques. To illustrate BSAA's powerful features, we analyse switching in an MP3 decoder design using several audio inputs and in a microcontroller running a suite of software tasks. We demonstrate the tool's usefulness by applying it in the power optimisation of a small MPSoC, obtaining on average a 60% reduction in dynamic power across five software tasks and identifying opportunities to reduce static power.

AB - We present Bus Switching Activity Analyser (BSAA), a switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation. BSAA reads switching metrics from RTL simulation, reporting the most active buses and hierarchies. Buses with typical address and data bus traffic are identified automatically. The tool can process multiple simulation runs simultaneously, analysing how switching varies with input data or software code. BSAA complements commercial tools, helping the designer find opportunities to apply power-saving techniques. To illustrate BSAA's powerful features, we analyse switching in an MP3 decoder design using several audio inputs and in a microcontroller running a suite of software tasks. We demonstrate the tool's usefulness by applying it in the power optimisation of a small MPSoC, obtaining on average a 60% reduction in dynamic power across five software tasks and identifying opportunities to reduce static power.

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English T, Lok Man K, Popovici E. BSAA: A switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation. In Integrated Circuit and System Design: Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation - 19th International Workshop, PATMOS 2009, Revised Selected Papers. 2010. p. 216-226. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)). doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-11802-9_26

BSAA: A switching activity analysis and visualisation tool for SoC power optimisation

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