An Energy-Efficient Architecture for Nanometric Technologies with Strong Robustness to Process Variability : Design of a GALS node based on a MIPS R2000 processor

Sylvain Durand (1) , H. Zakaria (2) , Laurent Fesquet (2) , Nicolas Marchand (3)

1 NECS - Networked Controlled Systems
2 TIMA - Techniques de l'Informatique et de la Microélectronique pour l'Architecture des systèmes intégrés
3 GIPSA-SYSCO - GIPSA - Systèmes non linéaires et complexité

In this paper we present an energy-efficient solution for nanometric systems, where some variability problems which did not influence the circuit at a higher scale introduce some uncertainties at a sub-micrometric size. Therefore, some advanced control strategies are required to manage the energy-performance tradeoff in such an environment. The setup is based on some Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) techniques applied to a Globally Asynchronous Locally Synchronous (GALS) architecture. Whereas a Vdd-hopping converter is able to provide discrete voltage levels, a Programmable Self-Timed Ring (PSTR) oscillator allows a variability robust source for generating adjustable clock frequencies. A fast predictive control law is also developed in this paper to calculate the frequency and voltage levels to apply to these actuators, minimizing the high voltage running time while ensuring good computational performance. Finally, the proposal is dedicated to a GALS node based on a MIPS processor over STMicroelectronics 45 nm technology and some fine-grained simulation results are performed. Besides a noticeable reduction of the energy consumption, the performance of the closed-loop system is ensured and a strong robustness to technological variability is also demonstrated.

Mots clés: programmable self-timed ring oscillator; Energy-performance tradeoff; nanometric architecture; fast predictive control; programmable self-timed ring oscillator.; process variability robustness

Domaines: Automatique / Robotique

Sylvain Durand, H. Zakaria, Laurent Fesquet, Nicolas Marchand. An Energy-Efficient Architecture for Nanometric Technologies with Strong Robustness to Process Variability : Design of a GALS node based on a MIPS R2000 processor. [Research Report] GIPSA-lab. 2013. ⟨hal-00675609⟩