Voltage and Frequency Tuning Methodology for Near-Threshold Manycore Computing using Critical Path Delay Variation

Abstract

Near-threshold computing (NTC) is now regarded as a promising candidate for innovative power reduction, which cannot be achieved with conventional super-threshold computing (STC). However, performance degradation and vulnerability to process variation in the NTC regime are the primary concerns. In this paper, we propose a voltage-and frequency-tuning methodology for mitigating the process-variation-induced problems in NTC-based manycore architectures. To implement the proposed methodology, we build up multiple-voltage multiple-frequency (MVMF) islands and apply a voltage-frequency tuning algorithm based on the critical-path monitoring technique to reduce the effects of process variation and maximize energy efficiency in the post-silicon stage. Experimental results show that the proposed methodology reduces overall power consumption by 8.2-20.0%, compared to existing methods in variation-sensitive NTC environments.