An ArchC approach for automatic energy consumption characterization of processors

This paper presents acSynth, an ArchC framework for energy characterization and simulation. Based on Tiwari's Method, a subject processor is characterized in an affordable time and the information is fed into acSynth to bring architecture level power analysis. The framework provides power reports and energy profiling. The experimental results show the characterization flow for the Plasma processor, a MIPS-I HDL description. The acSynth can provide power analysis at 35.1 million instructions per second in simulation with small accuracy diversion and without loss of generality. The system allows the execution of large tests in minutes, which would otherwise take years in a standard HDL methodology.