Improve simulation efficiency using statistical benchmark subsetting - An implantbench case study

Motivated by excessively high benchmarking efforts caused by rapidly expanding design space and prevailing practices based on ad-hoc and subjective schemes, this paper seeks to improve simulation efficiency by proposing a novel methodology that combines two statistical analyses and one quantitative heuristic capable of subsetting a given benchmark suite based on the targeted processor configuration and desired variance coverage. We demonstrate the usage and effectiveness of the proposed technique by conducting a thorough case study on ImplantBench suite evaluating high/mid/low-end machine configurations modeled after three commercial embedded processors.