Variable partitioning for dual memory bank DSPs

DSPs with dual memory banks offer high memory bandwidth, which is required for high-performance applications. However, such DSP architectures pose problems for C compilers, which are mostly not capable of partitioning program variables between memory banks. As a consequence, time-consuming assembly programming is required for an efficient coding of time-critical algorithms. This paper presents a new technique for automatic variable partitioning between memory banks in compilers, which leads to a higher utilization of available memory bandwidth in the generated machine code. We present experimental results obtained by integrating the proposed technique into an existing C compiler for the AMS Gepard, an industrial DSP core.