SMARTER STRATEGIES

Efficient Processor Chips Could Lead to Smarter Electronics

Rebecca Kutzer-Rice | Date: 03-03-11 | Comments

A graduate student at Harvard has created a functional multicore voltage regulator that significantly reduces the energy usage of processing chips. The device could lead to smarter and smaller electronics, and more efficient data centers.

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Efficient Processor Chips Could Lead to Smarter Electronics
These days, the consumer electronics industry is all about reducing size while increasing function. The newest MacBook Air, for instance, weighs less than three pounds and is thinner than an inch. But the future of electronics is limited by energy, since smaller devices have smaller batteries and therefore shorter charges.

Now, a researcher at Harvard has developed a device that could significantly reduce the power usage of modern processing chips. The tool could lead to smaller cell phones and laptops, and more energy-efficient data centers�and it's as simple as "shutting off the lights."

The multicore voltage regulator essentially works as a DC-DC converter. (Source: Wonyoung Kim, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)

Harvard graduate student Wonyoung Kim designed an on-chip, multicore voltage regulator (MCVR) to tackle discrepancies between power supply and demand. "If you're listening to music on your MP3 player, you don't need to send power to the image and graphics processors at the same time," Kim explained in a statement. "If you're just looking at photos, you don't need to power the audio processor or the HD video processor.

"It's like shutting off the lights when you leave the room," Kim said.

In 2008, Kim, a student in Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), demonstrated that fine-grain voltage control was theoretically possible. In February, he showed that a plug-and-play MCVR could be implemented into existing hardware. Kim presented his findings at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC).

According to Kim, the MCVR is "essentially a DC-DC converter." The device can take 2.4-volt input and minimize it to voltages ranging from 0.4 to 1.4V. Kim designed the MCVR for high-speed use, and it can increase or decrease voltage output by 1V in fewer than 20 nanoseconds.

Kim developed an algorithm that lets the MCVR determine which parts of a processor are not in use at a given time. The device then cuts power to them, saving massive amounts of wasted energy. Although no performance is lost, the tool saves battery power and could lower energy usage by stationary data centers.

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