to be at a very, very abstract level to the
extent it’s not very useful.”
thermal Head start
However abstract the state of some of
the research into power management
might be, basic computer science has
given the IT industry a head start over
other industries in addressing power
issues. Whereas an auto manufacturer
could continue to make gas-guzzling
vehicles as long as a market supported
such a strategy, two factors in particular have focused microprocessor designers’ efforts on the imperatives of
power efficiency.
One of the factors is the thermal
limitations of microprocessors as each
succeeding generation grew doubly
powerful per unit size. The other is the
proliferation of laptops and mobile
computing devices, which demand ad-
vanced power management features to
extend battery life. Kirk Cameron, asso-
ciate professor of computer science at
Virginia Polytechnic Institute, says this
shift in product emphasis has given
engineers working on power manage-
ment theories more tools with which
to work on the central processing unit
(CPU); these chips are also installed on
desktop machines and servers as chip
manufacturers design one family for
numerous platforms, based on over-
all market demand. Examples of these
tools include application program-
ming interfaces such as Intel’s Speed-
Step and AMD’s PowerNow, which al-
low third-party software to dynamically
raise or lower the frequency of cycles
and the voltage surging through the
processor, depending on the computa-
tional load at any given time.
multicore Architectures
Ironically, although the DVFS technology is currently the most ubiquitous
power management solution for processors, Cameron and other researchers say new fundamentals of computing architecture will mandate wholly
different solutions sooner rather than
later.
The onset of mass production of
multicore processors, for example,
is mandating that researchers begin
practically anew in exploring speed
scaling approaches.
“Generally speaking, there exists a
good understanding of speed scaling
in single processor systems, but there
are still many challenging open questions in the area of multicore architectures,” Albers notes.
“The new technologies bring new algorithmic issues,” says Kirk Pruhs, professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh, and an organizer
of both NSF workshops. For instance,
if a heterogeneous-cored processor is
programmed correctly, the utility of using frequency and voltage scaling at all
might be moot—applications needing
lower power can be sent to a slower core.
However, Pruhs says programming
these will be “much more algorithmi-
ACM Awards News
2011 ACM Fellows Nominations
The aCM Fellow program was
established by the aCM Council
in June 1993 to recognize
outstanding aCM members
for technical, professional,
and leadership contributions
that advance the arts, sciences,
and practices of information
processing; promote the free
interchange of ideas and
information in the field;
develop and maintain the
integrity and competence
of individuals in the field;
and advance the objectives
of aCM.
each candidate is evaluated
as a whole individual and
is expected to bring honor
to the aCM. a candidate’s
accomplishments are expected
to place him or her among
the top 1% of aCM members.
in general, two categories
of accomplishments are
considered: achievements
related to information
technology and outstanding
service to aCM or the larger
computing community. a person
selected as an aCM Fellow
should be a role model and an
inspiration to other members.
nominations and
endorsements must be
submitted online no later
than sept. 1, 2011. For Fellows
guidelines, go to http://awards.
acm.org/html/fellow_nom_
guide.cfm/.
nomination information
organized by a principal
nominator should include
excerpts from the candidate’s
current curriculum vitae,
listing selected publications,
patents, technical achievements,
honors, and other awards; a
description of the work of the
nominee, drawing attention to
the contributions which merit
designation as Fellow; and
supporting endorsements
from five aCM members.
For the list of 2010’s aCM
Fellows, see p. 25.
