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http://dx.doi.org/10.7840/kics.2013.38A.12.1094

An Improved Dynamic Branch Predictor by Selective Access of a Specific Element in 4-Way Cache  

Hwang, In-Sung (서강대학교 전자공학과 CAD & ES 연구실)
Hwang, Sun-Young (서강대학교 전자공학과 CAD & ES 연구실)
Publication Information
The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences / v.38A, no.12, 2013 , pp. 1094-1101 More about this Journal
Abstract
This paper proposes an improved branch predictor that reduces the number execution cycles of applications by selectively accessing a specific element in 4-way associative cache. When a branch instruction is fetched, the proposed branch predictor acquires a branch target address from the selected element in the cache by referring to MRU buffer. Branch prediction rate and application execution speed are considerably improved by increasing the number of BTAC entries in restricted power condition, when compared with that of previous branch predictor which accesses all elements. The effectiveness of the proposed dynamic branch predictor is verified by executing benchmark applications on the core simulator. Experimental results show that number of execution cycles decreases by an average of 10.1%, while power consumption increases an average of 7.4%, when compared to that of a core without a dynamic branch predictor. Execution cycles are reduced by 4.1% in comparison with a core which employs previous dynamic branch predictor.
Keywords
Embedded System; Branch Prediction; MRU Buffer; BTAC; MDL;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 1  (Citation Analysis)
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