Developers’ tool-suite combines optimised GPU processing with strong battery life
17 September 2018
Credit: Shutterstock
EU-funded researchers have released LPGPU2, a tool-suite that enables developers to develop optimised GPU processing – delivering longer battery life in mobile devices, while ensuring high quality and performance.
More specifically, the LPGPU2 tool-suite (the acronym standing for low-power parallel computing) helps programmers develop power-efficient code for graphics processing units (GPUs) by identifying bottlenecks relating to performance (for example in terms of frames-per-second) and power (for example in terms of energy per instruction).
“The LPGPU2 tool will have a major impact on applications where ultra-low power or high performance graphics are priorities," explains LPGPU2 coordinator Ben Juurlink, professor of embedded systems architectures at TU Berlin.
“Thanks to the breakthrough techniques developed by LPGPU2's academic and industry experts, innovative applications in a wide range of domains, including healthcare, fitness, security, infotainment and autonomous vehicles, are now possible."
By providing an end-to-end solution that starts at the application and reaches all the way to the hardware, the tool-suite provides insights and visibility not possible in other tools. This coupled with the feedback engine, namely a unique part of the tool-suite that makes optimisation simple, by providing insightful guidance on how to improve performance and power consumption, ensures an unprecedented combination.
Credit: TU Berlin
The LPGPU2 tool-suite has benefited from the expertise of a range of academic and industrial partners. TU Berlin developed the power measurement tool, while Samsung designed and implemented the data collection frameworks, the feedback engine (that functions as a virtual optimisation expert) and also tested the tool-suite on real mobile devices.
Greek company Think Silicon, moreover, validated the product on their four-core NEMA GPU system. Meanwhile, Scottish software specialists Codeplay extended AMD’s CodeXL tool, allowing programmers to profile their SYCL applications, and Berlin-based video experts Spin Digital produced a high-performance, multi-API video player, which delivers performance gains of up to 25% – as well as energy usage reduction of up to 25%.
For more information, visit www.lpgpu.org.
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