| Abstract: |
While mapping a streaming (such as multimedia or network packet processing) application onto a specified architecture, an important issue is to determine the input stream rates that can be
supported by the architecture for any given mapping. This is subject to typical constraints such as on-chip buffers should not overflow, and specified playout buffers (which feed audio or video
devices) should not underflow, so that the quality of the audio/video output is maintained. The main difficulty in this problem arises from the high variability in execution times of stream
processing algorithms, coupled with the bursty nature of the streams to be processed. In this paper we present a mathematical framework for such a rate analysis for streaming applications, and
illustrate its feasibility through a detailed case study of a MPEG-2 decoder application. When integrated into a tool for automated design-space exploration, such an analysis can be used for fast
performance evaluation of different stream processing architectures. |
