Intermittently powered devices rely on opportunistic energy-harvesting to function, leading to recurrent power interruptions. This paper introduces DiCA, a proposal for a hardware/software co-design to create differential check-points in intermittent devices. DiCA leverages an affordable hardware module that simplifies the check-pointing process, reducing the check-point generation time and energy consumption. This hardware module continuously monitors volatile memory, efficiently tracking modifications and determining optimal check-point times. To minimize energy waste, the module dynamically estimates the energy required to create and store the check-point based on tracked memory modifications, triggering the check-pointing routine optimally via a nonmaskable interrupt. Experimental results show the cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency of DiCA, enabling extended application activity cycles in intermittently powered embedded devices.

翻译：间歇供电设备依赖机会性能量采集技术运行，导致频繁的电力中断。本文提出DiCA，一种面向间歇性设备创建差分检查点的软硬件协同设计方案。DiCA利用低成本硬件模块简化检查点生成过程，降低检查点生成时间与能耗。该硬件模块持续监控易失性存储器，高效追踪数据变更并确定最佳检查点时机。为最小化能量浪费，模块基于跟踪的内存变更动态估算创建和存储检查点所需的能量，通过不可屏蔽中断触发最优检查点例程。实验结果表明，DiCA具有成本效益和能量效率，能够延长间歇供电嵌入式设备的应用活动周期。