Best-by-simulations: A framework for comparing efficiency of reconfigurable architectures on workloads with deadlines

Using a transition system framework that associates costs (e.g., time, energy) with executing an action on a particular resource configuration, we formulate a very simple version of simulation relations for cumulative cost transition systems. This notion of simulation forms the basis for specifying deadline/budget-conformant executions, and appropriate notions for comparing such executions. We believe these simulation-based notions can provide the basis for an operational theory of optimal cost executions and performance guarantees for approximate solutions, in particular relating the notion of simulation from transition systems to that of competitive analysis used for, e.g., online algorithms.