Williamson, CareySkrenes, Arsham Bryan2016-09-192016-09-1920162016http://hdl.handle.net/11023/3315Speed scaling policies are a critical component in modern operating systems, impacting both energy efficiency and performance. Energy efficiency is important from a sustainability standpoint, especially since datacenters account for roughly 2% of the global energy consumption, growing by 6% per year. Understanding the features of modern processors facilitates the development of more effective policies. As a first contribution, this thesis provides such information, along with the details necessary to properly interpret experimental measurement results. The second contribution is a profiler that makes it easy to perform controlled workloads made up of precise units of work at defined speeds, and produces high-resolution timing and energy measurement data broken down by process and workload. The profiler is used to collect empirical data about several theoretical speed scaling policies using a modern processor, with detailed analysis and comparisons to the most common policy on contemporary operating systems.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Computer ScienceSpeed ScalingProfilingEnergy Efficiencymaster thesis10.11575/PRISM/26057