Implementing Micro-Heterogeneous Computing: Abstracting Auxiliary Processors in a Multi-Process OS

Computer systems employing heterogeneous special or limited purpose computation components can achieve higher performance with less power dissipation than those using only general-purpose processors. In order to effectively harness these advantages, an application must be tailored to a specific combination of computational components unless an abstraction layer exists to provide flexibility between different target computers. Herein is presented an implementation of Micro-Heterogeneous Computing, a framework which provides abstraction of underlying hardware and the scheduling and load balancing necessary in a multi-user computer system.