DocumentCode :
2582548
Title :
A first-order mechanistic model for architectural vulnerability factor
Author :
Nair, Arun Arvind ; Eyerman, Stijn ; Eeckhout, Lieven ; John, Lizy Kurian
Author_Institution :
Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
fYear :
2012
fDate :
9-13 June 2012
Firstpage :
273
Lastpage :
284
Abstract :
Soft error reliability has become a first-order design criterion for modern microprocessors. Architectural Vulnerability Factor (AVF) modeling is often used to capture the probability that a radiation-induced fault in a hardware structure will manifest as an error at the program output. AVF estimation requires detailed microarchitectural simulations which are time-consuming and typically present aggregate metrics. Moreover, it requires a large number of simulations to derive insight into the impact of microarchitectural events on AVF. In this work we present a first-order mechanistic analytical model for computing AVF by estimating the occupancy of correct-path state in important microarchitecture structures through inexpensive profiling. We show that the model estimates the AVF for the reorder buffer, issue queue, load and store queue, and functional units in a 4-wide issue machine with a mean absolute error of less than 0.07. The model is constructed from the first principles of out-of-order processor execution in order to provide novel insight into the interaction of the workload with the microarchitecture to determine AVF. We demonstrate that the model can be used to perform design space explorations to understand trade-offs between soft error rate and performance, to study the impact of scaling of microarchitectural structures on AVF and performance, and to characterize workloads for AVF.
Keywords :
integrated circuit design; microprocessor chips; radiation effects; architectural vulnerability factor; correct-path state; design space exploration; first-order design criterion; first-order mechanistic analytical model; first-order mechanistic model; microarchitectural simulations; microarchitecture structures; modern microprocessors; out-of-order processor execution; radiation-induced fault; soft error reliability; Analytical models; Computational modeling; Load modeling; Mathematical model; Microarchitecture; Pipelines; Steady-state;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Computer Architecture (ISCA), 2012 39th Annual International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Portland, OR
ISSN :
1063-6897
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-0475-7
Electronic_ISBN :
1063-6897
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/ISCA.2012.6237024
Filename :
6237024
Link To Document :
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