Full-System Computer Architecture Using Open-Source Hardware and FPGA-Accelerated Simulation
Abstract
In this talk, I will describe several research projects developed in the Berkeley Architecture Research group which utilize FPGA-accelerated simulation and open-source hardware, demonstrating the possibilities and accessibility of full-system computer architecture research using these tools and methodologies. FireSim is an easy-to-use, open-source, FPGA-accelerated cycle-accurate hardware simulation platform that runs on Amazon EC2 F1. FireSim automatically transforms and instruments open-hardware designs (e.g. RISC-V Rocket Chip, BOOM, Hwacha, NVDLA, etc.) with the MIDAS framework into fast (10s-100s MHz), deterministic, FPGA-based simulators that enable productive pre-silicon verification and performance validation. FireSim is capable of scaling to simulating thousands of multi-core compute nodes, with optional cycle-accurate network simulation tying them together, enabling cycle-accurate data-center simulation of over 1000 nodes. I will describe how FPGA-accelerated simulation tools can assist in the analysis and co-design of system-level performance issues, specifically in the context of low level operating system interaction with custom hardware implementations such as network interface controllers. Finally, I will demonstrate how FireSim can be used for joint SW/HW design space exploration of multi-core processors with data-parallel vector accelerators, allowing for exploration of nested-parallelism implementations with common parallel programming libraries.
