Research is being conducted along four main axes:
- adaptive MPSoC platforms;
- networks-on-chip;
- model-driven engineering of embedded systems; and
- self-organizing systems.

  
Adaptive MPSoC Platforms

We are interested in the development of MPSoC (Multiprocessor Systems-on-Chip) platforms 
that can be adapted, both at design and execution times, to the conflicting requirements and 
constraints of embedded systems that must execute application loads that vary dynamically, 
such as performance, energy, power, and real-time. Configuration and adaptive mechanisms 
may include, for instance:
- placement of cores in a network-on-chip
- dynamic or static allocation of tasks to processors
- dynamic task migration
- Dynamic Voltage Scheduling and Power Management, combined to task scheduling
- memory organization

Since dynamic mechanisms should not harm the system performance, we are interested in 
light-weight mechanisms, mostly based on heuristics that can find sub-optimal solutions in a 
very short time.

We are exploring various memory organizations for MPSoC platforms based on networks-on-chip - 
shared, distributed, and combinations of them, trying to evaluate their impact on performance and 
energy consumption and looking for the right programming abstractions. We are also exploring hardware implementations of transactional memory models as an alternative to traditional memory organizations.

Networks-on-Chip

We are interested in the exploration of the huge design space that is available in MPSoCs 
based on Networks-on-Chip. This design space is available due to the very large number of 
design decisions to be taken in such systems – placement of cores and memory nodes, task 
allocation, memory organization, router architecture, etc. Design solutions must consider 
conflicting requirements – performance, energy, power, real-time, thermal constraints.

Experiments are being conducted upon a SystemC virtual platform built on top of the SoCIN 
network-on-chip, developed at UFRGS.

  
Model-Driven Engineering of Embedded Systems

The architecture of embedded systems combines hardware and software components, to 
which different application functions must be mapped. The architecture is usually designed 
as an instance (a configuration) of a pre-defined platform. Finding the right architecture and 
the right match between application functions and architecture componentes is a hard design 
task, due to the very large design space to be explored.

We are interested in using the Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) approach, using application 
and platform models that follow appropriate meta-models. Model transformations are thus 
applied to find the right mapping between application and platform and to generate an 
adequate implementation. UML is used as language for expressing all those models. The 
mapping task is performed in a design space exploration context, where adequate heuristics 
(such as simulated annealing and ant colony optimization) are used to find solutions that 
meet design requirements and constraints.