An OpenMP translator for the GAP8 MPSoC

TL;DR

This paper presents a source-to-source translator that converts a subset of OpenMP directives into code for the GAP8 MPSoC, simplifying parallel programming on this low-power architecture and reducing code size.

Contribution

It introduces a novel OpenMP translator tailored for the GAP8 MPSoC, enabling easier parallel programming and demonstrating initial efficiency improvements.

Findings

Reduced code size compared to base implementation

Facilitates parallel programming on GAP8

Preliminary results show promising efficiency gains

Abstract

One of the barriers to the adoption of parallel computing is the inherent complexity of its programming. The Open Multi-Processing (OpenMP) Application Programming Interface (API) facilitates such implementations, providing high abstraction level directives. On another front, new architectures aimed at low energy consumption have been developed, such as the Greenwaves Technologies GAP8, a Multi-Processor System-on-Chip (MPSoC) based on the Parallel Ultra Low Power (PULP) Platform. The GAP8 has an 8-core cluster and a Fabric Controller(FC) master core. Parallel programming with GAP8 is very promising on the efficiency side, but its recent development and lack of a robust OS to handle threads and core scheduling complicate a simple implementation of the OpenMP APIs. This project implements a source to source translator that interprets a limited set of OpenMP directives, and is capable of generating parallel microcontroller code manipulating the cores directly. The preliminary results obtained in this work shows a reduction of the code size, if compared with the base implementation, proving the efficiency of the project to ease the programming of the GAP8. Further work is need in order to implement more OpenMP directives.