Prelom v analýze ukladacieho priestoru: Ako patent Rohit Sindhu umožňuje nanosekundovú latenciu NVMe

Rohit Sindhu, a Senior Principal Engineer with over 22 years of experience in computer science, embedded systems, and high-performance interconnects, has made a significant mark in the storage industry with his recently granted US patent, US11237760B2: “Measuring performance metrics for data storage devices.” Sindhu’s career is defined by technical depth, innovation, and a passion for advancing the state of the art in PCIe Express, CXL, MCTP, and NVMe storage technologies. In addition to this milestone patent, Sindhu has multiple pending patents in the PCIe, CXL, and MCTP domains, further underscoring his ongoing contributions to next-generation interconnect and storage solutions. Notably, he has also contributed to the development of CXL and JEDEC specifications related to CXL and PCIe device management, reflecting his influence on industry standards and best practices.

Kariéra venovaná vstavaným, pamäťovým a úložným inováciám

Rohit Sindhu’s professional journey spans more than two decades, during which he has become widely recognized for his expertise in both hardware and software domains. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Dallas with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering from NIT Surat, Gujarat, India and has contributed to the development of embedded systems for mission-critical applications, architected solutions across the PCIe, MCTP and CXL protocol stacks, and driven innovation in Memory & storage performance, availability, manageability and reliability.

Sindhuho technické vedenie a mentorstvo ovplyvnilo tímy a produkty v celom odvetví. Je známy tým, že premostil medzeru medzi komplexnými inžinierskymi výzvami a praktickými, škálovateľnými riešeniami.V priebehu rokov pracoval na rozmanitej škále projektov, od vývoja firmvéru a dizajnu systémov na čipe až po pokročilé systémy na riešenie problémov a vysokorýchlostné prepojovacie protokoly.

Ako vedúci inžinier vo svojej súčasnej úlohe sa Sindhu naďalej zameriava na križovatku vysokorýchlostných prepojení a dátového ukladania, vyvíja riešenia, ktoré riešia fľašové medzery v reálnom svete a umožňujú výpočtové platformy novej generácie.

Sindhu je tiež aktívnym mentorom a vodcom myslenia v technologickej komunite. Pravidelne zdieľa poznatky o trendoch v oblasti ukladacieho priestoru, pokrokoch v oblasti PCIe a CXL a osvedčených postupoch pre návrh vstavaných systémov.

US11237760B2: Zvyšovanie bar pre meranie latencie NVMe

Sindhuov patent, „Meranie výkonnostných metrík pre zariadenia na ukladanie dát“, rieši dlhodobú výzvu v priemysle ukladania dát: presné meranie latencie príkazov NVMe vo vysokorýchlostných prostrediach PCIe bez zavedenia preťaženia alebo nepresností bežných pre tradičné nástroje založené na softvéri.

The Problem: Latency Measurement in Modern Storage

V dnešnom svete založenom na údajoch je výkonnosť ukladacích systémov založených na technológii NVMe rozhodujúca pre aplikácie od cloud computingu a umelej inteligencie až po analytiku v reálnom čase a edge computing.

Tradičné metódy merania latencie, často softvérové, môžu zaviesť významné pozorovacie overhead, skresľujúce výsledky a neschopnosť zachytiť skutočné výkonnostné charakteristiky úložných zariadení. Hardvérové sondy, hoci užitočné, niekedy chýbajú granularita potrebná na izoláciu jednotlivých príkazových latencií, najmä v prostrediach s vysokým príkazovým priebehom a paralelizmom.

Sindhu's riešenie: FPGA-zrýchlený prístup

Patentovaná metóda Sindhu využíva hardvérovú logiku založenú na FPGA na pasívne monitorovanie transakcií PCIe medzi hostiteľským a ukladacím zariadením, presné načasovanie životného cyklu jednotlivých príkazov NVMe.

Krok za krokom Breakdown:

1. Queue Pair Creation: The host system initiates the process by creating a dedicated Submission Queue (SQ) and Completion Queue (CQ) pair for latency measurement. This isolation prevents interference from other I/O operations. The start addresses and lengths of these queues are configured in the FPGA’s test logic.

   
   

2. Command Injection: The host queues an NVMe command and rings the doorbell, prompting the device to fetch the command from the SQ.

   
   

3. PCIe Transaction Snooping: The device issues a PCIe Transaction Layer Packet (TLP) to fetch the command. The FPGA’s snooping logic monitors for read requests within the SQ address range, retrieves the transaction Tag (a unique identifier for the transaction), and records it internally.

   
   

4. Tag Matching and Timer Start: As the FPGA continues monitoring, it matches the Tag in subsequent response packets, extracts the NVMe command ID from the TLP payload, and starts a high-resolution latency timer—typically driven by FPGA clock cycles in the nanosecond range.

   
   

5. Completion Monitoring and Timer Stop: The FPGA then watches for command completion responses in the CQ address range. When the NVMe command ID in the completion response matches the saved command ID, the timer stops, and the measured latency is reported back to the host.
   

   
   

Tento prístup zaisťuje, že ukazovatele výkonu sú zachytené s presnosťou na úrovni nanosekúnd a nulovým vplyvom na normálnu prevádzku hostiteľa alebo zariadenia, čo je významný pokrok oproti existujúcim metódam.

Technické výhody a priemyselný vplyv

Sindhu’s invention offers several key advantages over traditional software and hardware-based measurement tools:

• Zero Observational Overhead: FPGA pracuje pasívne na PCIe bus, takže pracovné zaťaženie hostiteľa a zariadenia nie je ovplyvnené.

• Protocol-Agnostic and Scalable: While optimized for NVMe, the method can be adapted to any PCIe-based protocol, including emerging standards like CXL.io, by reconfiguring address ranges and command parsing logic.

• Multi-Command Parallelism: The FPGA’s ability to track multiple Tags simultaneously enables concurrent latency measurement across many NVMe commands—critical for assessing real-world, high-throughput workloads.

• Integration Flexibility: The solution can be implemented as standalone hardware or embedded within Smart NICs, computational storage devices, or CXL-attached memory controllers.

  
  

Applications Across the Storage Ecosystem

1. Data Center Optimization: Cloud providers and enterprise IT teams can use this technology for real-time latency analytics across large fleets of NVMe devices, enabling dynamic QoS management and proactive troubleshooting.

   
   

2. Storage OEM Validation: Manufacturers can integrate this IP into test platforms to validate SSD latency under extreme workloads, replacing expensive and less flexible protocol analyzers.

   
   

3. Autonomous and Edge Systems: In latency-sensitive environments like autonomous vehicles or industrial edge computing, Sindhu’s method provides the granularity needed to certify storage subsystems for real-time operation.

   
   

4. CXL and Next-Gen Storage: As CXL adoption grows for memory pooling and computational storage, the patent’s PCIe snooping framework lays the groundwork for similar measurement techniques across new protocols.

   
   

Víziový vodca a mentor

Beyond his technical achievements, Rohit Sindhu is recognized as a mentor and advocate for innovation in the embedded, memory, and storage communities. He has guided teams through complex engineering challenges, shared his expertise through technical talks and publications, and actively supports the next generation of engineers.

Sindhu’s approach is characterized by a relentless pursuit of precision, efficiency, and scalability. His work on US11237760B2 exemplifies his commitment to solving real-world problems with elegant, practical solutions that have a lasting impact on the industry.

Looking Forward

As storage technologies continue to evolve to meet the demands of AI, big data, and cloud-scale infrastructure, the need for accurate and efficient performance measurement will only grow. Rohit Sindhu’s patented approach provides a robust foundation for the next wave of innovation in storage analytics and validation. With multiple pending patents in PCIe, CXL, and MCTP domains, and with his direct contributions to CXL and JEDEC specifications related to CXL and PCIe device management, Sindhu’s influence on the next generation of high-speed interconnects and storage technologies is set to expand even further.

Ak sa chcete dozvedieť viac o profesijnej ceste Rohita Sindhuho, spojte sa s ním naLinkedIn.

US11237760B2 je viac ako patent - je to dôkaz trvalého vplyvu spoločnosti Rohit Sindhu na technologický priemysel a je to plán pre budúcnosť presného merania výkonu ukladacieho priestoru urýchleného hardvérom.

This story was distributed as a release by Echospire Media under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here.