Abstract
The CONTINUUM project aims to define a new energy-efficient compute node model, which will benefit from a suitable combination of efficient compilation techniques, emerging memory, and communication technologies together with heterogeneous cores. This deliverable deals with the comprehensive evaluation of the architecture prototypes defined in the project [2]. Various heterogeneous multicore designs are developed and prototyped on FPGA. These designs rely on cost-effective and inherently ultra-low-power cores commercialized by Cortus SA. Microarchitecture-level design considerations, e.g. floating-point and out-of-order computing capabilities, are taken into account for exploring candidate solutions. In addition, a tailored and flexible multi-task programming model is defined for the proposed architecture paradigm. We analyze the behavior of various application programs on available core configurations. This provides valuable insights on the best architecture setups that match program characteristics, so as to enable increased energy-efficiency.