PROPOSAL NUMBER: 0411127 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dwarkadas, Sandhya INSTITUTION: University of Rochester PROPOSAL TITLE: Operating System Strategies for Energy- and Re-source-Aware Adaptation
With increases in device capabilities, energy consumption has emerged as a large and growing concern for both mobile and server-class computers. Hard-ware designers have responded by developing devices (e.g. hard disks and net-works) that can be "powered down" (dropped into a non-operational mode) when inactive, and other devices (e.g. processor components) that can be "scaled back" (by reducing voltage or reallocating in part to other threads), to operate below their peak performance and power. To utilize such devices effectively, the operating system must dynamically "shape" the offered load. For "power down" devices it should aim for burstiness, to maximize the length of low-power inter-vals and minimize the number of costly state transitions. For "scale back" de-vices it should aim for smoothness, to leverage the nonlinear dependence of power on voltage and to avoid paying for unutilized resources. For devices with both capabilities it must balance the benefits of the two approaches.
Work is addressing both existing and emerging architectures, including single-threaded, multi-threaded, and clustered processors. Expected results include (1) the characterization of server and mobile workloads in terms of behavior variability and (2) scheduler and device management strategies that combine run-time instrumentation with profiles of past behavior to model the needs of all running applications, and to match those needs to available resources. Dis-semination will be achieved via publications, students, open source software tools, and/or industry collaboration. Broader impacts will include the re-source-aware adaptation of future increasingly complex systems for improved performance and reduced energy.
Dr. Brett D. Fleisch Program Director, CISE/CNS June 16, 2004. .
