A Bottom-Up Methodology for the Fast Assessment of CNN Mappings on Energy-Efficient Accelerators - LIRMM - Laboratoire d’Informatique, de Robotique et de Microélectronique de Montpellier
Journal Articles Journal of Low Power Electronics and Applications Year : 2023

A Bottom-Up Methodology for the Fast Assessment of CNN Mappings on Energy-Efficient Accelerators

Guillaume Devic
Gilles Sassatelli

Abstract

The execution of machine learning (ML) algorithms on resource-constrained embedded systems is very challenging in edge computing. To address this issue, ML accelerators are among the most efficient solutions. They are the result of aggressive architecture customization. Finding energy-efficient mappings of ML workloads on accelerators, however, is a very challenging task. In this paper, we propose a design methodology by combining different abstraction levels to quickly address the mapping of convolutional neural networks on ML accelerators. Starting from an opensource core adopting the RISC-V instruction set architecture, we define in RTL a more flexible and powerful multiply-and-accumulate (MAC) unit, compared to the native MAC unit. Our proposal contributes to improving the energy efficiency of the RISC-V cores of PULPino. To effectively evaluate its benefits at system level, while considering CNN execution, we build a corresponding analytical model in the Timeloop/Accelergy simulation and evaluation environment. This enables us to quickly explore CNN mappings on a typical RISC-V system-on-chip model, manufactured under the name of GAP8. The modeling flexibility offered by Timeloop makes it possible to easily evaluate our novel MAC unit in further CNN accelerator architectures such as Eyeriss and DianNao. Overall, the resulting bottom-up methodology assists designers in the efficient implementation of CNNs on ML accelerators by leveraging the accuracy and speed of the combined abstraction levels.
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lirmm-03939495 , version 1 (14-01-2023)

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Guillaume Devic, Gilles Sassatelli, Abdoulaye Gamatié. A Bottom-Up Methodology for the Fast Assessment of CNN Mappings on Energy-Efficient Accelerators. Journal of Low Power Electronics and Applications, 2023, 13 (1), pp.5. ⟨10.3390/jlpea13010005⟩. ⟨lirmm-03939495⟩
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