Trebuchet: Exploring TLP with dataflow virtualisation

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2011

Authors

Alves, TAO (Author) Other; Marzulo, LAJ (Author) Other; Franca, FMG (Author) Other; Costa, VS (Author) FCUP

Journal

Title: International Journal of High Performance Systems Architecture

Vol. 3

Pages: 137-148

ISSN: 1751-6528

Publisher: Inderscience Publishers

Indexing

Scopus - 27 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-007-YJA

DOI: 10.1504/ijhpsa.2011.040466

Abstract (EN): Parallel programming has become mandatory to fully exploit the potential of multi-core CPUs. The dataflow model provides a natural way to exploit parallelism. However, specifying dependences and control using fine-grained instructions in dataflow programs can be complex and present unwanted overheads. To address this issue, we have designed TALM: a coarse-grained dataflow execution model to be used on top of widespread architectures. We implemented TALM as the Trebuchet virtual machine for multi-cores. The programmer identifies code blocks that can run in parallel and connects them to form a dataflow graph, which allows one to have the benefits of parallel dataflow execution in a Von Neumann machine, with small programming effort. We parallelised a set of seven applications using our approach and compared with OpenMP implementations. Results show that Trebuchet can be competitive with state-of-the-art technology, while providing the benefits of dataflow execution. Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific