A MULTI-THREAD APPROACH REDUCING PROGRAM EXECUTION TIME IN A HETEROGENEOUS RECONFIGURABLE MULTIPROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE

A new approach leading to reduced user program execution time in a mul ti-processor environment with dynamic reconfiguration capabilities is proposed in this paper. The general idea is that a user program partit ioned into specific parts called slices (based on a program graph repr esentation) is executed on different heterogeneous, dynamically reconf igurable multi-processor units (MPUs). Reduction of the program execut ion time is achieved through finding the MPU with the shortest executi on time for each program slice and appropriate control flow between ex ecuting units. Two different methods are proposed: . Run-time reducing a program execution time using multiple heterogeneous MPUs. All MPUs simultaneously start execution of each program slice. This method is u sed for real-time applications when analytical methods are impossible to apply, program graphs activations are undeterministic, and/or exter nal control signals influence the program execution paradigm. . Findin g the optimal hardware topologies of the MPUs and allocating them prog ram slices; next a reduced time program execution through look-ahead r econfiguration and switching of control between the MPUs. The proposed strategy and algorithms are described in details. The methods are com pared and the scope of their applicability is discussed. Some indicati ons for the future investigations are given in conclusions.