Execution trace graph analysis of dataflow programs: Bounded buffer scheduling and deadlock recovery using model predictive control

Execution trace graph analysis of dataflow programs has been demonstrated to be an effective way for exploring and optimizing the design space of many core applications. In this work a novel transformation from the execution trace graph to an event driven linear system is proposed. It is also illustrated how the trace space of can be effectively reduced and well known system control techniques can be efficiently used in order to find close to optimal solutions. In particular, the problem of finding a bounded buffer size configuration is proposed and solved using a model predictive controller. Two design examples, a JPEG and an MPEG HEVC decoder have been used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.