Towards effective embedded processors in codesigns: customizable partitioned caches

This paper explores an application-specific customization technique for the data cache, one of the foremost area/power consuming and performance determining microarchitectural features of modern embedded processors. The automated methodology for customizing the processor microarchitecture that we propose results in increased performance reduced power consumption and improved determinism of critical system parts while the fixed design ensures processor standardization. The resulting improvements help to enlarge the significant role of embedded processors in modern hardware/software codesign techniques by leading to increased processor utilization and reduced hardware cost. A novel methodology for static analysis and a field-reprogrammable implementation of a customizable cache controller that implements a partitioned cache structure is proposed. The simulation results show significant decrease of miss ratio compared to traditional cache organizations.