DVFS Virtualization for Energy Minimization of Mixed-Criticality Dual-OS Platforms

Abstract

A dual-OS platform can efficiently implement emerging mixed-criticality systems by consolidating a real-time OS (RTOS) and a general-purpose OS (GPOS). Although the dual-OS platform attracts increasing attention, it often suffers from energy inefficiency in the GPOS for guaranteeing real-time responses of the RTOS. This paper proposes an energy minimization method called DVFS virtualization, which allows running multiple DVFS policies dedicated to the RTOS and GPOS, respectively. The experimental evaluation using a commercial processor showed that the proposed hardware could change the supply voltage within 500 ns and reduce the energy consumption of typical applications by 60 % in the best case compared to conventional dual-OS platforms.