Heterogeneous Code Cache: Using Scratchpad and Main Memory in Dynamic Binary Translators

Dynamic Binary Translation (DBT) can be used to address important issues in embedded systems. DBT systems store translated code in a software-managed code cache. Unlike general-purpose systems, embedded systems often have specialized memory resources, such as a fast scratchpad memory, that can be used to mitigate DBT performance overhead. This paper presents the Heterogeneous Code Cache (HCC), a code cache split among scratchpad and main memory. The authors explore several HCC management policies and show that, on average, an HCC outperforms a code cache allocated only to scratchpad or only to main memory.