HieraGen: Automated Generation of Concurrent, Hierarchical Cache Coherence Protocols

Conference Paper

We present HieraGen, a new tool for automatically generating hierarchical cache coherence protocols. HieraGen's inputs are the simple, atomic, stable state protocols for each level of the hierarchy. HieraGen's output is a highly concurrent hierarchical protocol, in the form of the finite state machines for all of the cache and directory controllers. HieraGen thus reduces the complexity that architects face, by offloading the challenging tasks of composing protocols and managing concurrency. Experiments show that HieraGen can automatically generate correct-by-construction MOESI family of hierarchical protocols with dozens of states and hundreds of transitions. We have verified all of the generated protocols for safety and deadlock freedom using a model checker.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Oswald, N; Nagarajan, V; Sorin, DJ

Published Date

  • May 1, 2020

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 2020-May /

Start / End Page

  • 888 - 899

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1063-6897

International Standard Book Number 13 (ISBN-13)

  • 9781728146614

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1109/ISCA45697.2020.00077

Citation Source

  • Scopus