DATE: Thursday, February 1, 2001
TIME: Noon - 1 pm
PLACE: Wean Hall 8220

SPEAKER:
Babak Falsafi
ECE, Carnegie Mellon

TITLE:
Computer Architecture Research in the CMU Impetus Group

ABSTRACT:
In this talk, I will survey ongoing computer architecture research projects in the Impetus group. First, I will briefly go over three projects that target: (1) prediction/speculation in high-performance memory systems, (2) power-aware processor and memory architecture, and (3) single-chip multiprocessor/multi-threaded architectures.

I will then present details on novel prediction and speculation techniques to improve memory system performance in shared-memory multiproceossors. I will present results showing for the first time that multiprocessors need not support relaxed memory consistency models to achieve high performance. We identify the key mechanisms that allow memory to provide the simple and intuitive uniprocessor programming model while achieving the performance only possible with the most sophisticated memory models. Next, I will present novel hardware predictors that capitalize on repetitive memory access behavior in applications to hide memory latency.

BIO:
Babak Falsafi joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at CMU as an Assistant Professor in January 2001. Prior to joining CMU, he held a position as an Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. His research interests include prediction and speculation in high-performance memory systems, power-aware processor and memory architectures, single-chip multiprocessor/multi-threaded architectures, and analytic and simulation tools for computer system performance evaluation. He has made numerous contributions in the design of distributed shared-memory multiprocessors and memory systems, the most prominent of which is Reactive NUMA, an adaptive memory system that lays the foundation for the recent prototype by Sun Microsystems code-named WildFire. He is a recipient of an NSF CAREER award in 2000.

SDI / LCS Seminar Questions?
Karen Lindenfelser, 86716, or visit www.pdl.cmu.edu/SDI/