Octopus: A Cycle-Accurate Cache System Simulator

This paper introduces Octopus(1), an open-source cycle-accurate cache system simulator with flexible interconnect models. Octopus meticulously simulates various cache system and interconnect components, including controllers, data arrays, coherence protocols, and arbiters. Being cycle-accurate enables Octopus to precisely model the behavior of target systems, while monitoring every memory request cycle by cycle. The design approach of Octopus distinguishes it from existing cache memory simulators, as it does not enforce a fixed memory system architecture but instead offers flexibility in configuring component connections and parameters, enabling simulation of diverse memory architectures. Moreover, the simulator provides two dual modes of operation, standalone and full-system simulation, which attains the best of both worlds benefits: fast simulations and high accuracy.