AbstractsComputer Science

bBlocks : a flexible object oriented microarchitecture simulation framework

by Ying Hua




Institution: Oregon State University
Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Degree: MS
Year: 2000
Keywords: Java (Computer program language)
Record ID: 1708649
Full text PDF: http://hdl.handle.net/1957/32872


Abstract

This research develops an object-oriented approach of modeling microprocessor architecture. A generic modeling library, bBlocks, is proposed as a framework for constructing microprocessor simulation. bBlocks is a collection of predefined abstract components (blocks) implemented in Java, the object-oriented programming language. Blocks are defined and used as the basic components in a variety of microprocessor operation modeling, simulations, and optimizations in bBlocks. The basic activities of a microprocessor are encapsulated into blocks. By using standard interfaces, blocks are integrated into the proposed modeling framework. Unlike traditional software simulators, this framework is cycle based, concurrent capable simulation, which may take advantage of multi-threading or parallel computation techniques. Using an object-oriented approach, bBlocks adapts an open system policy, which gives end users the flexibility of incorporating user-defined components into end models and integrating the user-preferred architecture. Another purpose of this research is to provide a mechanism to model and study future microprocessors. bBlocks is implemented in Java, a truly cross-platfonn object-oriented language. It is conceivable that bBlocks could eventually run on any machine, regardless of the architecture or operating system as long as it is running the Java Virtual Machine. In addition to this, with Java GUI tools, bBlocks provides probes to investigate the activities inside the blocks. To illustrate the effectiveness of bBlocks, two architectures, SuperScalar and CDF, have been implemented.