Embedded Systems Design Europe - August/September 2008 - (Page 20)

benchmarks Wanted: for benchmarking embedded BY MARKUS LEVY industry standards VMM hypervisors s enterprise computing hardware has become more powerful, largely by virtue of the high-performance multicore products coming out from Intel and AMD, virtualization has become increasingly popular in IT as enterprise software companies have focused on developing ways to use this hardware more effectively both for server consolidation and centralized provisioning of virtual desktop computing environments for employees. This same trend is now moving into the embedded world, as both single and multicore processors become sufﬁciently powerful and cost effective to support multiple simultaneous applications. The most straightforward way to maximize the utility of the underlying hardware platform is the same as in the enterprise computing case: virtualization. The impact of hypervisor technology on the overall performance of a system may vary widely, regardless of the performance capabilities of the underlying hardware. Therefore, it’s increasingly important to establish a standard method to benchmark different types of hypervisor software in a consistent and repeatable way. The Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) is developing such a method that will help system developers choose the best hypervisor for their application and implement the most optimal conﬁguration parameters for their platforms. This method will enable developers to test various critical performance metrics such as interrupt latency and context switching times in different scenarios – including different software workloads and numbers of processor cores – for both micro benchmarks and full-up application-level benchmarks on fully provisioned operating systems. At its most basic level, a hypervisor, also known as a virtual machine monitor (VMM), is virtualization software that allows multiple operating systems or execution environments to run simultaneously on a single physical CPU. It guarantees complete isolation between the virtual machines (VMs) running above it and also guarantees isolation between itself and those VMs. A hypervisor is not itself a virtual machine. Rather, the hypervisor allows the creation of multiple virtual machines that run independently on a single core or on multiple cores. These A 20 AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2008 | embedded systems design europe | www.embedded.com/europe 020-021_EETE.indd 20 28/08/08 11:49:35 http://www.embedded.com/europe

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Embedded Systems Design Europe - August/September 2008

Embedded Systems Design Europe - August/September 2008 Contents TI Overhauls DSP Lineup, Adds 15 Processors QNX Publishes Source Code for File System Congatec to Take on Proprietary Market Swiss Multicore Project Wins Microsoft Grant OpenCores Bundles Development Tool ARM Compiler Boosts Freescale i.MX31 LabVIEW Updated for Multicore and Wireless Cover Feature: Interactive Tool Supports Multiprocessor SoC Design Wanted: Benchmaking for Embedded VMM Hypervisors Graphical Design Empowers Spider Robots Building a Power Supply for Discontinuous Transmission Wireless Networks RTOS Selection & Best Practices Achieving Cache Coherence in a MIPS32 Multicore Design New Products Advertising Contacts

Embedded Systems Design Europe - August/September 2008

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