Imitation Learning-Based Performance-Power Trade-Off Uncore Frequency Scaling Policy for Multicore System

As the importance of uncore components, such as shared cache slices and memory controllers, increases in processor architecture, the percentage of uncore power consumption in the overall power consumption of multicore processors rises significantly. To maximize the power efficiency of a multicore processor system, we investigate the uncore frequency scaling (UFS) policy and propose a novel imitation learning-based uncore frequency control policy. This policy performs online learning based on the DAgger algorithm and converts the annotation cost of online aggregation data into fine-tuning of the expert model. This design optimizes the online learning efficiency and improves the generality of the UFS policy on unseen loads. On the other hand, we shift our policy optimization target to Performance Per Watt (PPW), i.e., the power efficiency of the processor, to avoid saving a percentage of power while losing a larger percentage of performance. The experimental results show that our proposed policy outperforms the current advanced UFS policy in the benchmark test sequence of SPEC CPU2017. Our policy has a maximum improvement of about 10% relative to the performance-first policies. In the unseen processor load, the tuning decision made by our policy after collecting 50 aggregation data can maintain the processor stably near the optimal power efficiency state.

Automated summary

With the increasing importance of uncore components in processor architecture, the percentage of uncore power consumption in multicore processors has significantly risen. To optimize power efficiency, a novel imitation learning-based uncore frequency control policy is proposed, which performs online learning using the DAgger algorithm. The policy optimizes online learning efficiency and improves the generality of the uncore frequency scaling policy. Furthermore, the policy focuses on Performance Per Watt (PPW) to avoid sacrificing performance while saving power.