SAfEPaTh: A System-Level Approach for Efficient Power and Thermal Estimation of Convolutional Neural Network Accelerator

TL;DR

SAfEPaTh is a system-level method for rapid, accurate power and thermal estimation in CNN accelerators, aiding design optimization without circuit-level simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach that captures dynamic effects in tile-based CNN accelerators, eliminating the need for circuit-level simulations and enabling fast, accurate estimations.

Findings

Accurately estimates power and temperature within 500 seconds.

Effectively models steady-state and transient-state scenarios.

Demonstrates broad applicability across CNN models and architectures.

Abstract

The design of energy-efficient, high-performance, and reliable Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) accelerators involves significant challenges due to complex power and thermal management issues. This paper introduces SAfEPaTh, a novel system-level approach for accurately estimating power and temperature in tile-based CNN accelerators. By addressing both steady-state and transient-state scenarios, SAfEPaTh effectively captures the dynamic effects of pipeline bubbles in interlayer pipelines, utilizing real CNN workloads for comprehensive evaluation. Unlike traditional methods, it eliminates the need for circuit-level simulations or on-chip measurements. Our methodology leverages TANIA, a cutting-edge hybrid digital-analog tile-based accelerator featuring analog-in-memory computing cores alongside digital cores. Through rigorous simulation results using the ResNet18 model, we demonstrate SAfEPaTh's capability to accurately estimate power and temperature within 500 seconds, encompassing CNN model accelerator mapping exploration and detailed power and thermal estimations. This efficiency and accuracy make SAfEPaTh an invaluable tool for designers, enabling them to optimize performance while adhering to stringent power and thermal constraints. Furthermore, SAfEPaTh's adaptability extends its utility across various CNN models and accelerator architectures, underscoring its broad applicability in the field. This study contributes significantly to the advancement of energy-efficient and reliable CNN accelerator designs, addressing critical challenges in dynamic power and thermal management.