Modeling Processor Idle Times in MPSoC Platforms to Enable Integrated DPM, DVFS, and Task Scheduling Subject to a Hard Deadline

Abstract: Energy efficiency is one of the most critical design criteria for modern embedded systems such as multiprocessor system-on-chips (MPSoCs). Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) and dynamic power management (DPM) are two major techniques for reducing energy consumption in such embedded systems. Furthermore, MPSoCs are becoming more popular for many real-time applications. One of the challenges of integrating DPM with DVFS and task scheduling of real-time applications on MPSoCs is the modeling of idle intervals on these platforms. In this paper, we present a novel approach for modeling idle intervals in MPSoC platforms which leads to a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation integrating DPM, DVFS, and task scheduling of periodic task graphs subject to a hard deadline. We also present a heuristic approach for solving the MILP and compare its results with those obtained from solving the MILP.