Processor energy estimation method using cycle-approximate simulator

Abstract

The estimation of energy consumption by processor is essential among the software optimization process in the energy aspect. But as the size and complexity of software have rapidly increased recently, the processor energy estimation is being bottlenecked in the software optimization process. Therefore a fast and accurate processor energy estimation method is necessary. The existing processor energy estimation method can be mainly classified into two types. The first method is the method using the cycle-accurate simulator. While this method is accurate because the energy consumption of processor is estimated using cycle-accurate simulator providing a lot of information, there is a disadvantage of taking up long estimation time. The second method is C-code static analysis method. This is the method of estimating energy consumption of processor by directly analyzing the given c-code and while it has an advantage of being able to estimate the energy consumption within short period of time, there is disadvantage of being estimated very inaccurately. In this paper, a processor energy estimation method using cycle-approximate simulator combining advantage of above two methods has been proposed. This method enables fast and accurate energy estimation.