Optimization & Performance Tuning

in Mobile Systems,
Advanced Level
Raghu Sesha Iyengar

Agenda

Optimization

What is optimization
Why optimize
When to optimize

Performance parameters
Profilers
Benchmark
References

What is Optimization

The design and operation of a system or process to make it as

good as possible in some defined sense. -- Wiktionary
an act, process, or methodology of making something (as a
design, system, or decision) as fully perfect, functional, or effective
as possible; specifically: the mathematical procedures (as finding
the maximum of a function) involved in this Merriam-Websters Online dictionary
Finding best route to Orchid our definition
For software optimization,
as good as possible generally means achieving a preset benchmark
defined generally means parameters used to measure how close
we are to the most optimized state

What is Optimization

Optimization applies to all

aspects of mobile system

HARDWARE

Processor

RAM

Peripherals

Typical software architecture of a mobile phone

(Android as an example)
Source:http://developer.android.com

Why to optimize
Major considerations of mobile phone software are:

Portability

User experience

Battery life
Battery technology not catching up with growth in processor power

Security
Software development time

Phone or Supercomputer
Reliability

Current drain

Usability
Performance (speed, memory, responsiveness)
Look and feel

Functionality

Multitude of hardware choices

API, Protocols and Specifications

Open Source

Create differentiator software

Pitfalls of optimization

Portability
Repetitive process

Increasing processor power

Faster processors
Coprocessors
Hardware Accelerators

Unplanned time and effort

Set your target

Optimization is rarely a one-time process

Change in hardware platform or Software framework can cause
optimization cycle to start

What is the optimal time to calculate the next move in a chess game?

Open source or 3rd party code

A new drop may invalidate all your effort

When to optimize
Start

The Optimization Cycle

Platform and
framework Decisions

Compiler/Assembler Decisions

Design

Optimize Code

Code

Optimize Design

Measure Parameters

Compare with
Benchmark

Stop

Measured parameter values acceptable

Measured parameter values not acceptable

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Processor
Speed

Ram

Internal
Memory

Display

OS

Camera

Droid

550MHZ

256MB

16GB

480x854px

Android

5MP

HTC Nexus
One

1GHZ

512MB

512MB

480x800px

Android

5MP

iPhone 3GS

600MHz

256MB

16GB

320x480px

MAC OS X

3MP

Nokia
N900

600MHz

256MB

32GB

800x480px

Linux

5MP

Samsung
S8500 Wave

1GHz

512MB

2GB

480x800px

Bada

5MP

LG Gw990

480x1024px

MeeGo

5MP

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

Source: http://www.phonegg.com

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Factors affecting CPU performance:

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Co-processors & hardware

accelerators
Advanced micro architecture (for same
ISA)
Vector Registers
Pipeline Optimizations

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

Data Forwarding
Branch Prediction
Predicate Register
Delayed Branch

Cache

Factors affecting Platform choice

Dev tools, IDE

Target applications
Support from vendor

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Know Thy compiler

Optimization types

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

Programming language dependant Vs

Programming language independent
Machine dependant Vs Machine
independent

Optimization levels
Dynamic and Static linking
Prelinking
Pragma
Compiler options
JIT

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Know Thy Framework

Threading

Code Optimization

File operation choices.

Design Optimization

UI interactions
Background computations
System calls for file op

Compiler Decisions

Write in standard chunks

Speed Vs Memory

Low

High

Hash Vs Binary

Analyze choices before optimizing

Background writes

Algorithm choices

Platform and framework Decisions

fopen Vs open

Spend enough time before picking

Create/destroy resources

Memory

peripherals

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Other decisions

Database decisions

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Fixed Vs Floating point

Coding language decisions

Compiler Decisions

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

Extensibility

Avoid costly Message passing

Application code
Native libraries

API definitions

High

Do we need database
Which data base to use

Sockets Vs Intents

XML parser

SAX Vs DOM

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Know Thy language

Strive for good programs not fast
ones
Document optimizations

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Low

80/20 rule.
Area for compiler research
Control flow optimizations

Platform and framework Decisions

High

Optimization Vs Readability

Implement state machines

Optimization techniques for

Assembly

Highly ISA dependent

Group instructions
Efficient loops
Use MAC/FMA

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

High level language

Language dependent
Lookup table
Bounds checking
Integer multiplication
Dead code elimination
Common sub expression
elimination
Loop unrolling

When to optimize
Start

The Optimization Cycle

Platform and
framework Decisions

Compiler/Assembler
Decisions

Design

Optimize Code

Code

Optimize Design

Measure Parameters

Compare with
Benchmark

Stop

Measured parameter values acceptable

Measured parameter values not acceptable

Parameters for Optimization

Speed
Memory

Response Time

Launch time
Response to user input

Current Drain

Heap & Stack

Image size

Active Current drain

Idle Current drain

Security

Application Security
Device Security
Network Security

Profilers

Speed Profilers

Based on how data is collected

Based on amount of information provided

Trace based (e.g., gcov)

Statistical (e.g., AMD CodeAnalyst)

Based on instrumentation of code

Event based (e.g., gcov, gprofs number of calls etc, codewarrior, eclipse profiler)
Sampling based (e.g., gprofs runtime figures)

Manual (e.g., Eclipse TraceView)

Automatic source level (e.g., CodeWarrior)
Compiler assisted
Binary instrumented

Memory Profilers

Heap and Stack usage (e.g., Valgrind)

Profilers

Response Time Profiler

Current Drain Profiler

Manual
High Speed Camera setup
Customized setup

Security Profiler

Application security

Device Security

Anti virus

Network security

FindBugs, Klocworks

Netfilter

Appropriate IDEs

From Vendor (e.g., CodeWarrior)

Open Source (e.g., Eclipse, MOTODEV Studio, Carbide.C++)

Benchmarks

Internal Benchmarks

Benchmark against another phone

Benchmark against another similar application

External Benchmarks

Industry Standard
Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium
(EEMBC)
Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC)
Open Source
I/O intensive (IOMETER)
CPU intensive (PI calculator, LINPACK)

References
Various Processors power dissipation details
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CPU_power_dissipation
Summary of various processors based on different architectures:

http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/Linux-For-Devices-Articles/Embedded-Processor-and-SystemonChip-Quick-Reference-Guide/
openMP
http://openmp.org/wp/
Boostpro libaries:
http://www.boostpro.com
Vector signal processing library
http://gpu-vsipl.gtri.gatech.edu/
Assembly and high level optimization techniques
http://www.agner.org/optimize/
Optimizing Java code
http://www.glenmccl.com/jperf/index.htm
Optimization levels in GCC:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7269
Optimization levels in CodeWarrior
http://www.freescale.com/infocenter/Codewarrior/index.jsp?topic=/com.freescale.doc.microcontrollers.targeting.manual/050_CWBuildProps.ColdFire_Compiler__Optimization.html
Profiler basics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profiling_%28computer_programming%29
Summary of profiling tools:
http://ktown.kde.org/~seli/memory/analysis.html
Valgrind:
http://valgrind.org/
Example codewarrior profiler
http://www.freescale.com/files/soft_dev_tools/doc/user_guide/IDE_5.5_UG_Profiler.pdf

References
Kernel profile and OProfile
http://omappedia.org/wiki/Android_Debugging
WinCE kernel profiler:
http://discovertheexperience.blogspot.com/2009/02/windows-ce-kernel-profiler.html
iPhone Vs Android Development:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Burnette/?p =682&tag=col1;post-682
Low level optimization resources
http://www.agner.org/optimize/
Iphone security
http://www.itsecurity.com/features/iphone -security-threat/
Email security
http://www.itsecurity.com /email-security/
Jit: http://www.answers.com/topic/just-in-time-compilation
Assembly optimization tips:
http://www.mark.masmcode.com/
Compiler, C++ optimization:
http://www.agner.org/optimize/
Book on Software optimization:
Software Optimization for High-Performance Computing By Kevin R. Wadleigh, Isom L. Crawford
Java benchmarks
http://java-phones.com/tools/fpc-bench-303
Android benchmarks:
http://mobileswdev.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/android-benchmarks/

Thank You
Raghu Sesha Iyengar
raghus@motorola.com

Mobile Developer Conference

by
MoMoB
http://momob.in

Additional Slides

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

Source: Software Optimization for high performance computing

By Kevin R. Wadleigh, Isom L. Crawford

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

Source: Software Optimization for high performance computing

By Kevin R. Wadleigh, Isom L. Crawford

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

Source: Optimizing Software in C++

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Optimization Levels in GCC

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

Source:http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7269

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Optimization Levels (gcc)

-O0

No optimization

-O1

Produce optimized image in short time

-O2

All optimizations that do not cause space-seed tradeoff

-Os

Size over speed optimization

-O3

Optimize for best speed. Global optimization. Size

increase expected.

Can have adverse effect if this size increase is more than

cache size and leads to more memory access.

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

Use f to use any option (which may not be included in the

ox) e.g., gcc finline-functions.
Use fno to exclude. E.g., fcc o1 fno-defer-pop

Source:http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7269

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

700MHz Athlon, 768MB RAM, Linux 2.4.21

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

Source:http://reallylongword.org/prelink-2/

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Code Optimization

Design Optimization

A 100 MB file was read sequentially starting

from the beginning of the file to produce
these times. The file system buffer cache
was 500MB

Compiler Decisions

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

Source: Software Optimization for high performance computing

By Kevin R. Wadleigh, Isom L. Crawford

When to optimize
Effort

Returns

High

Low

Lookup Tables
Code Optimization

Design Optimization

Compiler Decisions

Boundary checking

Platform and framework Decisions

Low

High

Source: Software Optimization for high performance computing

By Kevin R. Wadleigh, Isom L. Crawford