Runtime Adaptation of Application Execution under Thermal and Power Constraints in Massively Parallel Processor Arrays

Massively Parallel Processor Arrays (MPPAs) can be nicely used in portable devices such as tablets and smartphones. However, applications running on mobile platforms require a certain performance level or quality (e.g., high-resolution image processing) that need to be satisfied while adhering to a certain power budget and temperature threshold. As a solution to the aforementioned challenges, we consider a resource-aware computing paradigm to exploit runtime adaptation without violating any thermal and/or power constraint in a programmable MPPA. For estimating the power consumption, we developed a mathematical model based on the post-synthesis implementation of an MPPA in different CMOS technologies while the temperature variation was emulated. We showcase our hardware/software mechanism to load new, on-the-fly configurations into the accelerator, considering quality/throughput tradeoffs for image processing applications. The results show that the average power consumption of a Sobel and Laplace operators using different number of processing elements amounts to 1.24 mW and 10.35 mW, respectively. Furthermore, only 1.64 μs are necessary for configuring a class of MPPA running at 550 MHz.