UNDERWARE – A Layer for Homogeneous Access to Heterogeneous Multi – Core Processors
Jan Haase
Jan Haase, Department of Computer Technology, Institute of Vienna University of Technology, Vienna Austria.
Manuscript received on 10 September 2013 | Revised Manuscript received on 19 September 2013 | Manuscript Published on 30 September 2013 | PP: 103-107 | Volume-3 Issue-4, September 2013 | Retrieval Number: D1204093413/13©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: This paper proposes a new way to tackle the problem of using the existing resources of multi-core processors with different types of cores, like PowerPC, Intel, ARM, DSPs, FPGA areas, etc. Applications for these heterogeneous multi-cores are difficult to write, as most programmers and programming tools target one platform only and in many cases single-cores only. The way to accomplish this is by creating a new layer, which is located between the operating system and the underlying heterogeneous hardware. In analogy to the middleware between applications and the OS it is called “underware”. The underware layer itself consists of two sublayers: The lower “adapter layer” builds a uniform interface for any underlying processor-core-configuration; above it lies the “scheduling layer”, which automatically distributes applications to the corresponding core or cores (if parallel execution is possible) or even to several different idle cores if the application is available in different platform executables. Research on the approach described in this paper is yet in an early stage; the corresponding project “UNDERWARE” just started. Therefore no preliminary results can be given. However the concept is sound and it can therefore be expected to get a first prototype soon.
Keywords: Multi-core, Heterogeneous, Middleware, Underware.
Scope of the Article: Optical and High-Speed Access Networks