MIT researchers developed prototypes of "36 core chips"

ByWindell Oskay

Having multiple cores in one processorMulticoreIs a technology that is not rare in chips for PCs and smartphones, but MIT researchers have developed chips with 36 cores to be mounted.

Researchers unveil experimental 36-core chip | MIT News Office
http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/researchers-unveil-experimental-36-core-chip-0623


Li-Shiuan PehProfessor has pointed out that as the number of cores mounted on multicore chips increases, problems with communication between cores become bigger. In the future we put something like a router between the cores to organize the exchange of data, so to speakIt needs to be shaped like "small internet"He insisted.

Currently, the mainstream of multicore is dual core (two cores), quad core (four cores), octacore (eight cores), and the cores are connected by a route called bus. When communication is performed between the cores, since one core has exclusive access right to the bus, during that time, since other cores can not communicate with each other, more cores Time is required.

This time, the group of Professor Peh et al. Announced that it is a 36-core chip, which connects directly to the adjacent core "Network on chip (NoC)"It has the feature of. By doing this, it is possible to establish a communication route avoiding the core in use, so it can operate efficiently.

Courtesy of the researchers

However, the problem with the NoC concept is that the data reaches the target core through a non-traceable path. This is because the core on the processor occasionally tries to access the data stored in the other core's cache before it is returned to main memory. This problem is solved by equipping the chip with a shadow network that searches for data packets in the same way as the core of the bus connection so far.

The research team is planning to make corrections to Linux by actually installing 36 core chips developed this time and seeing how the application actually works. In addition, this chip is to be released as open source hardware that anyone can acquire and use in the future.