Architectural full-system software simulators such as Virtutech Simics =
are powerful and versatile research enablers for both architectural =
exploration and advanced OS/compiler development. Their main shortcoming =
is limited throughput, especially when simulating multiprocessor =
systems. Much recent research has focused on FPGA-based platforms to =
simulate/emulate hardware. Development turnaround and real-estate =
constraints on FGPAs often limit these platforms from achieving =
full-system simulation. In this talk, I will present the ProtoFlex =
hybrid emulation/simulation framework for accelerating full-system =
multiprocessor simulation using FPGAs. In ProtoFlex, only a small set of =
frequently encountered behaviors are implemented in the FPGA for =
acceleration while a software-based reference simulator implements the =
extensive set of infrequent behaviors. Furthermore, the mapping from =
simulated processors to the FPGA is virtualized using time-multiplexed =
interleaving so that many processor contexts can be emulated by a single =
physical pipeline. I will present applications for hybrid =
simulation/emulation and performance results comparing simulation =
throughput against pure software simulators.=0D
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