Modeling live and dead lines in cache memory systems

An analytical model that predicts the fraction of live and dead lines present in a cache memory in a multitasking environment is presented. The model is two-fold. The first portion evaluates the number of live lines created in a fully associative cache during the execution of a process. The second portion models the interaction of two processes that share a cache and run in an interleaved fashion. The model admits direct-mapped, set-associative, and fully associative cache architectures. The complete model assumes a hyperbolic (or fractal) model of program behavior. It predicts the variations of the total number of lines (footprint) as well as the number of live lines held by a process in the various caches as a function of the number of cache accesses. The accuracy of the model is validated through trace driven simulations.<
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