Aging Mitigation Strategies for Heterogeneous Multi-Core Processors: A System Management Controller-Based Approach

The continuous advancement of transistor technology has enhanced integrated circuit performance while introducing reliability challenges due to aging mechanisms such as NBTI, HCI, TDDB, and Electromigration. This research investigates software, hardware, and hybrid techniques for mitigating aging in multi-core processors, including DVFS, power gating, clock gating, instruction scheduling, and task migration. We propose an adaptive, multi-level strategy integrated into a System Management Controller (SMC) that leverages real-time sensor data (temperature, voltage, aging) to dynamically adjust system parameters. Implemented on a RISC-V big. LITTLE architecture using RTL and TLM simulations, our framework ensures extended processor lifespan and reliability with minimal performance overhead. Future work targets enhancing decision algorithms and optimizing mitigation across diverse workloads.