YARB: a Methodology to Characterize Regular Expression Matching on Heterogeneous Systems

Abstract

The continuous growth of data pushes novel and efficient approaches for information retrieval. In this context, Regular Expression (RE) matching is widely employed and represents a relevant computational kernel that carries control-and memory-related issues. Among the several solutions to relieve these burdens, accelerators seem a promising alternative to general-purpose systems. However, state-of-the-art benchmarking presents a highly fragmented scenario without consensus on the approach and lacks an open-source strategy. Therefore, to fairly characterize existing execution engines, this work presents YARB, an open benchmarking methodology. It builds upon literature solutions, a comprehensive approach, and an in-depth characterization of heterogeneous systems. Moreover, YARB's openness will enable future integrations and engines comparison.