Tera-scale Computing

  Section 7 of 10  

Accelerator Exoskeleton

CONCLUSION

In this paper we present the EXO MIMD extension to the IA ISA to expose heterogeneous cores as application-level architecture resources and provide shared virtual memory to support the classic multi-shredded programming model for heterogeneous multi-core processors. The EXO architecture allows application programs to directly use heterogeneous hardware as MIMD functional units while requiring minimal additional dependency on the existing OS ecosystem. In addition, in order to take advantage of the rich ecosystem legacy for IA software development, the CHI programming environment provides an IA look-n-feel by extending the Intel^® C++ Compiler, OpenMP runtime, and debugger toolchains to support user-level heterogeneous multi-shredding. Since its development, EXOCHI has been used in Intel's production media kernel development. Based on extensive feedback from developers, there is strong evidence that the IA look-n-feel of the programming environment has significantly improved productivity over prior device driver-based development environments.

  Section 7 of 10  

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