Cache activity profiling tool for the LEON4 processor

Abstract

The performance of modern systems depends significantly on the cache activity. Hence, tools that monitor the cache performance are very useful for optimization of the software or even, whenever this is possible, the hardware, of a system. In this paper, a tool that provides statistics about the cache activity of the LEON4-N2X embedded system is discussed. The tool analyzes the memory access trace of a program executed bare metal and calculates, with the use of the reuse distance, the latency added by the cache activity. Furthermore, the tool measures all the misses occurred and classifies them per their cause.