Optimizing Reliability and Energy Efficiency in Heterogeneous Multicore Systems: A Novel Task Deployment Strategy

The rapid advancement of CMOS technology has empowered modern integrated circuits (ICs) to handle increasingly complex tasks, which are crucial across various applications. However, achieving a balance between performance and energy consumption remains a challenge, particularly for edge devices such as cell phones and IoT sensors. Heterogeneous multicore systems, combining high-performance and energy-efficient cores, offer a promising solution for optimizing power while meeting performance requirements. Nevertheless, the continuous evolution of technology exacerbates reliability concerns in multicore systems, notably transient errors and aging effects. Previous studies have proposed various strategies, including task replication and Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS), to mitigate reliability degradation. However, the lack of holistic consideration for these mitigation techniques may inadvertently shorten the system's lifespan due to potential conflicts between them. Hence, this paper thoroughly analyzes the interplay between strategies for mitigating transient errors and aging effects. Subsequently, we introduce a novel reliability-aware task deployment framework aimed at significantly extending the system lifespan while adhering to a specified reliability target and minimizing overall energy consumption. Experimental findings demonstrate the efficacy of our framework, showcasing a 4.98x improvement in system lifespan and a 50% reduction in energy consumption compared to prior studies.