University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Intelligent systems for efficiency and security

Pothukuchi, Raghavendra Pradyumna

Content Files
POTHUKUCHI-DISSERTATION-2020.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/108504

Description

Title
Intelligent systems for efficiency and security
Author(s)
Pothukuchi, Raghavendra Pradyumna
Issue Date
2020-07-17
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Torrellas, Josep
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Torrellas, Josep
Committee Member(s)
  • Abdelzaher, Tarek
  • Hwu, Wen-mei
  • Kale, Laxmikant (Sanjay) V.
  • Kim, Nam Sung
  • Voulgaris, Petros G.
  • Ansari, Amin
  • Greathouse, Joseph L.
Department of Study
Computer Science
Discipline
Computer Science
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Date of Ingest
2020-10-07T20:59:56Z
Keyword(s)
  • resource management
  • computer architecture
  • computer systems
  • control theory
  • processors
  • performance management
  • power management
  • thermal management
  • energy efficiency
  • power side channels
  • security
  • machine learning
  • adaptive systems
  • robust control
  • MIMO
  • distributed resource management
  • heterogeneous computers
  • computer science
Abstract
As computing becomes ubiquitous and personalized, resources like energy, storage and time are becoming increasingly scarce and, at the same time, computing systems must deliver in multiple dimensions, such as high performance, quality of service, reliability, security and low power. Building such computers is hard, particularly when the operating environment is becoming more dynamic, and systems are becoming heterogeneous and distributed. Unfortunately, computers today manage resources with many ad hoc heuristics that are suboptimal, unsafe, and cannot be composed across the computer’s subsystems. Continuing this approach has severe consequences: underperforming systems, resource waste, information loss, and even life endangerment. This dissertation research develops computing systems which, through intelligent adaptation, deliver efficiency along multiple dimensions. The key idea is to manage computers with principled methods from formal control. It is with these methods that the multiple subsystems of a computer sense their environment and configure themselves to meet system-wide goals. To achieve the goal of intelligent systems, this dissertation makes a series of contributions, each building on the previous. First, it introduces the use of formal MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) control for processors, to simultaneously optimize many goals like performance, power, and temperature. Second, it develops the Yukta control system, which uses coordinated formal controllers in different layers of the stack (hardware and operating system). Third, it uses robust control to develop a fast, globally coordinated and decentralized control framework called Tangram, for heterogeneous computers. Finally, it presents Maya, a defense against power side-channel attacks that uses formal control to reshape the power dissipated by a computer, confusing the attacker. The ideas in the dissertation have been demonstrated successfully with several prototypes, including one built along with AMD (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.) engineers. These designs significantly outperformed the state of the art. The research in this dissertation brought formal control closer to computer architecture and has been well-received in both domains. It has the first application of full-fledged MIMO control for processors, the first use of robust control in computer systems, and the first application of formal control for side-channel defense. It makes a significant stride towards intelligent systems that are efficient, secure and reliable.
Graduation Semester
2020-08
Type of Resource
Thesis
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108504
Copyright and License Information
2020 Raghavendra Pradyumna Pothukuchi

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