Dynamic power dissipation control method for real-time processors based on hardware multithreading

Abstract

In order to eliminate the energy waste caused by the traditional static hardware multithreaded processor used in real-time embedded system working in the low workload situation, the energy efficiency of the hardware multithread is discussed and a novel dynamic multithreaded architecture is proposed. The proposed architecture saves the energy wasted by removing idle threads without manipulation on the original architecture, fulfills a seamless switching mechanism which protects active threads and avoids pipeline stall during power mode switching. The report of an implemented dynamic multithreaded processor with 45 nm process from synthesis tool indicates that the area of dynamic multithreaded architecture is only 2.27% higher than the static one in achieving dynamic power dissipation, and consumes 1.3% more power in the same peak performance.