The ongoing trend toward many-core computer systems and adequate new programming models has spawned numerous new activities in the domain of operating system (OS) research during recent years. This chapter will address the challenges and opportunities for OS developers in this new field and give an overview of state-of-the-art research.This section will introduce the reader to the spectrum of contemporary many-core CPU architectures, application programming models for many-core systems, give a brief overview of the resulting challenges for OS developers.

Chapter Contents:

• 3.1 Introduction
• 3.1.1 Many-core architectures
• 3.1.2 Many-core programming models
• 3.1.3 Operating system challenges
• 3.2 Kernel-state synchronization bottleneck
• 3.3 Non-uniform memory access
• 3.4 Core partitioning and management
• 3.4.1 Single OS approaches
• 3.4.2 Multiple OS approaches
• 3.5 Integration of heterogeneous computing resources
• 3.6 Reliability challenges
• 3.6.1 OS measures against transient faults
• 3.6.2 OS measures against permanent faults
• 3.7 Energy management
• 3.7.1 Hardware mechanisms
• 3.7.2 OS-level power management
• 3.7.3 Reducing the algorithmic complexity
• 3.8 Conclusions and future directions
• References

Inspec keywords: multiprocessing systems; operating systems (computers); microprocessor chips

Other keywords: operating systems; OS developers; many-core computer systems; many-core CPU architectures; many-core systems; programming models

Subjects: Microprocessor chips; Operating systems; Multiprocessing systems