Project aims to boost chip performance

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as part of its Architecture Aware Compiler Environment Program, has awarded Rice University $16 million to develop a new set of tools to improve the performance of virtually any application running on any microprocessor.

The PACE project—short for “platform-aware compilation environment”—centers on ubiquitous computer programs called compilers. All microprocessors—not just those in PCs but the ones powering cell phones, game systems, cars and electronic toys—have their own compilers to translate human-written computer applications into the binary 1s and 0s that a processor can execute.

“To use a new computer system effectively, an applications programmer needs a high-quality compiler, one that can translate the application in a way that achieves a reasonable fraction of the available performance,” said Keith Cooper, Rice’s John and Ann Doerr Professor in Computational Engineering and a principal investigator on the PACE project. “Unfortunately, it typically takes about five years to develop a high-quality compiler for a new computer system, and because that’s longer than the effective life cycle of most microprocessors, we rarely see a case where applications make good use of a processor’s resources.”

The vast number of microprocessors exacerbates the problem. Most electronic devices—iPhones, digital hearing aids, GPS systems, antilock brakes—have specialized “embedded” microprocessors. New personal computers and laptops typically contain two or more general-purpose processors on a “multicore” chip from Intel or AMD, as well as high-performance graphics processors, sound card processors and other specialized processors. Sony’s PlayStation 3 game system has an IBM Cell Broadband Engine containing a general-purpose microprocessor and eight specialized processors.

Cooper said the military’s interest in funding PACE stems from its reliance on computing, ranging from supercomputers for global weather forecasts to portable devices used by infantry.

“When a compiler translates human-written code into executable code, it makes myriad choices that have a direct impact on how fast the application runs, how much power it uses and how much memory it uses,” Cooper said.

The tools PACE project researchers hope to build will cut the time needed to create high-quality compilers. In addition, the PACE team will learn as it goes, measuring and weighing the goals, capabilities and performance of each processor, to create compilers that are optimized for particular situations.

Jade Boyd, Rice News