PowerPC

About: PowerPC is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1184 publications have been published within this topic receiving 22297 citations. The topic is also known as: ppc.

PowerPC 603 microprocessor power management

Abstract: Addressing the need for long battery life in portable applications and environmental concerns about energy consumption requires microprocessors with low power consump tion as well as high performance. A primary design goal of the PowerPC 603 microprocessor was to provide sophisticated power management without compromising nextgenera-tion performance. As a result, the 603 is ideal for portable applications such as laptop computers in addition to Energy Star compliant desktop computers. The PowerPC 603 allows the system designer to control energy consumption through both hardware and software means as well as providing automatic internal power management.

Module hot-swapping for dynamic update and reconfiguration in K42

Abstract: K42 is an open-source research OS for 64-bit multiprocessor systems, focusing on the PowerPC architecture. It uses an object-oriented design to achieve good performance, scalability, customisability, and maintainability. K42 supports the Linux API and ABI allowing it to use unmodified Linux applications and libraries, and can be deployed by running on an existing installation of Linux. The development process of K42 is intended to share concepts with Linux; many ideas have been transferred between the two projects. K42 implements each system resource (such as an open file or process) as a set of unique object instances, and supports hot-swapping, which allows these objects to be changed on-the-fly. This enables dynamic reconfiguration and adaptability of the system, and when combined with a kernel module loader, supports dynamic update and hot patching of the OS. Examples of this might include dynamically adapting to file access patterns, or replacing insecure code in the network stack without downtime. In this paper we will introduce K42, discuss its hot-swapping capability, and suggest possible ways in which this technology could benefit Linux.

Verification of Out-Of-Order Processor Designs Using Model Checking and a Light-Weight Completion Function

Abstract: We present a new technique for verification of complex hardware devices that allows both generality and a high degree of automation. The technique is based on our new way of constructing a “light-weight” completion function together with new encoding of uninterpreted functions called reference file representation. Our technique combines our completion function method and reference file representation with compositional model checking and theorem proving. This extends the state of the art in two directions. First, we obtain a more general verification methodology. Second, it is easier to use, since it has a higher degree of automation. As a benchmark, we take Tomasulo's algorithm for scheduling out-of-order instruction execution used in many modern superscalar processors like the Pentium-II and the PowerPC 604. The algorithm is parameterized by the processor configuration, and our approach allows us to prove its correctness in general, independent of any actual design.