Architecture Exploration Based on GA-PSO Optimization, ANN Modeling, and Static Scheduling

Abstract EN

Embedded systems are widely used today in different digital signal processing (DSP) applications that usually require high computation power and tight constraints.

The design space to be explored depends on the application domain and the target platform.

A tool that helps explore different architectures is required to design such an efficient system.

This paper proposes an architecture exploration framework for DSP applications based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithms (GA) techniques that can handle multiobjective optimization problems with several hybrid forms.

A novel approach for performance evaluation of embedded systems is also presented.

Several cycle-accurate simulations are performed for commercial embedded processors.

These simulation results are used to build an artificial neural network (ANN) model that can predict performance/power of newly generated architectures with an accuracy of 90% compared to cycle-accurate simulations with a very significant time saving.

These models are combined with an analytical model and static scheduler to further increase the accuracy of the estimation process.

The functionality of the framework is verified based on benchmarks provided by our industrial partner ON Semiconductor to illustrate the ability of the framework to investigate the design space.