From reconfigurable architectures to self-adaptive autonomic systems
by Marco Domenico Santambrogio
International Journal of Embedded Systems (IJES), Vol. 4, No. 3/4, 2010

Abstract: Systems on Chip (SoC) can draw various benefits such as adaptability and efficient acceleration of compute-intensive tasks from the inclusion of reconfigurable hardware as a system component. Dynamic reconfiguration capabilities of current reconfigurable devices create an additional dimension in the temporal domain. During the design space exploration phase, overheads associated with reconfiguration and hardware/software interfacing need to be evaluated carefully in order to harvest the full potential of dynamic reconfiguration. In order to overcome the limits deriving by the increasing complexity and the associated workload to maintain such complex infrastructure, one possibility is to adopt self-adaptive and autonomic computing systems (Kephart and Chess, 2003). Self-adapting computer systems will be capable of adapting their behaviour and resources thousands of times a second to automatically find the best way to accomplish a given goal despite changing environmental conditions and demands. Moreover, it is a system able to configure, heal, optimise and protect itself without the need for human intervention. These capabilities would benefit the full range of computer systems, from embedded devices to servers to supercomputers. Scenarios where self-awareness will be particularly useful include: mobile technologies, cloud computing systems, adaptive and dynamic compilation, multi-core microarchitecture and novel operating systems.

Online publication date: Fri, 11-Mar-2011

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