DNNsim

Requirements

• Cmake version >= 3.10
• GNU C++ compiler version >= 5.1
• Google Protobuf for C++. Installation link:
  • https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/blob/master/src/README.md

Allowed input files

• The architecture of the net in a train_val.prototxt file (without weights and activations)
• The architecture of the net in a trace_params.csv file (without weights and activations)
• The architecture of the net in a conv_params.csv file (without weights and activations)
• Weights, and Inputs activations in a *.npy file
• Full network in a Google protobuf format file

Compilation:

Command line compilation. First we need to configure the project:

cmake -H. -Bcmake-build-release -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

Then, we can proceed to build the project

cmake --build cmake-build-release/ --target all

Set up directories

Create folder models including a folder for each network. Every network must include one of these files:

• train_val.prototxt
• model.csv (Instead of the prototxt file)
  • Header: <Name>:<Type(conv|fc|rnn)>:<Stride>:<Padding>

They can also include a:

• precision.txt (Contain 5 lines as the example, first line is skipped)
  • If this file does not exist the layers are quantized using linear quantization
  • If the network traces are already quantized, use profiled flag

magnitude (+1 of the sign), fraction, wgt_magnitude, wgt_fraction
9;9;8;9;9;8;6;4;
-1;-2;-3;-3;-3;-3;-1;0;
2;1;1;1;1;-3;-4;-1;
7;8;7;8;8;9;8;8;

Create folder net_traces including a folder for each network. In the case of inference simulation, every network must include:

• wgt-$LAYER.npy
• act-$LAYER-$BATCH.npy

All traces must be in float32

Test

Print help:

./DNNsim -h

The simulator instructions are defined in prototxt files. Example files can be found here.

Results from simulations can be found inside the results folder. One csv file for each simulation containing one line for each layer which are grouped per images. After that, one line for the each layer is shown with the average results for all images. Finally, the last line corresponds to the total of the network.

Command line options

• Option --quiet remove stdout messages from simulations.
• Option --fast_mode makes the simulation execute only one batch per network, the first one.
• Option --check_values calculate the output values and check their correctness.

Allowed Inference simulations

• Allowed model types for the simulations:

model	Description
Caffe	Load network model from train_val.prototxt, precisions from precision.txt, and traces from numpy arrays
CSV	Load network model from model.csv, precisions from precision.txt, and traces from numpy arrays

• Allowed architectures for the experiments:

Architecture	Description	Details
DaDianNao	Baseline DaDianNao machine	DaDianNao
Stripes	Ap: Exploits precision requirements of activations	Stripes
ShapeShifter	Ap: Exploits dynamic precision requirements of a group of activations	ShapeShifter
Loom	Wp + Ap: Exploits precision requirements of weights and dynamic group of activations	Loom
BitPragmatic	Ae: Exploits bit-level sparsity of activations	BitPragmatic
Laconic	We + Ae: Exploits bit-level sparsity of both weights and activations	Laconic
SCNN	W + A: Skips zero weights and zero activations	SCNN

• Allowed tasks for these architectures:

Task	Description
Cycles	Simulate number of cycles and memory accesses
Potentials	Calculate ideal speedup and work reduction

Input Parameters Description

The batch file can be constructed as follows for the simulation tool:

Name	Data Type	Description	Valid Options	Default
batch	uint32	Corresponding batch for the Numpy traces	Positive numbers	0
model	string	Format of the input model definition and traces	Caffe-CSV	N/A
data_type	string	Data type of the input traces	Float-Fixed	N/A
network	string	Name of the network as in the models folder	Valid path	N/A
data_width	uint32	Number of baseline bits of the network	Positive Number	16
quantised	bool	True if traces already quantised	True-False	False

Experiments contain the parameters specifics for the memory system and the architectures. The memory system parameters are general for all architectures, while architecture are different per architecture. They can be found here.

Name	Data Type	Description	Valid Options	Default
architecture	string	Name of the architecture to simulate	Allowed architectures	N/A
task	string	Name of the architecture to simulate	Allowed tasks	N/A
dataflow	string	Name of the dataflow to simulate	Allowed dataflows	N/A
		DRAM Parameters
cpu_clock_freq	string	Compute frequency	NUM (G|M|K) Hz	1GHz
dram_conf	string	DRAM configuration file in "ini"	Valid file	DDR4-3200
dram_size	string	DRAM off-chip size	NUM (G|M|Gi|Mi) B	16GiB
dram_width	uint32	DRAM interface width	Positive number	64
dram_start_act_address	uint64	DRAM start activations address	Positive Number	0x80000000
dram_start_wgt_address	uint64	DRAM start weight address	Positive Number	0x00000000
		Global Buffer Parameters
		Change to act for activations
		Change to wgt for weights
gbuffer_xxx_levels	uint32	Global Buffer hierarchy levels	Positive Number	1
gbuffer_xxx_size	string	Global Buffer On-chip size	NUM (G|M|K|Gi|Mi|Ki) B	1GiB
gbuffer_xxx_banks	uint32	Global Buffer On-chip banks	Positive Number	32/256
gbuffer_xxx_bank_width	uint32	Global Buffer bank interface width in bits	Positive Number	256
gbuffer_xxx_read_delay	uint32	Global Buffer read delay in cycles	Positive Number	2
gbuffer_xxx_write_delay	uint32	Global Buffer write delay in cycles	Positive Number	2
gbuffer_xxx_eviction_policy	string	Global Buffer Eviction policy for lower levels	LRU-FIFO	LRU
		Local Buffer Parameters
		abuffer for activations
		wbuffer for weights
		pbuffer for partial sums
		obuffer for output activations
xbuffer_rows	uint32	Activation Buffer memory rows	Positive Number	2
xbuffer_read_delay	uint32	Activation Buffer read delay in cycles	Positive Number	1
xbuffer_write_delay	uint32	Activation Buffer read delay in cycles	Positive Number	1
		Other modules Parameters
composer_inputs	uint32	Composer column parallel inputs per tile	Positive Number	256
composer_delay	uint32	Composer column delay	Positive Number	1
ppu_inputs	uint32	Post-Processing Unit parallel inputs	Positive Number	16
ppu_delay	uint32	Post-Processing Unit delay	Positive Number	1
		Architecture Parameters