Bit-level Perceptron Prediction for Indirect Branches

arXiv:2611.10913v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Modern software uses indirect branches for various purposes including, but not limited to, virtual method dispatch and implementation of switch statements. Because an indirect branch's target address cannot be determined prior to execution, high-performance processors depend on highly-accurate indirect branch prediction techniques to mitigate control hazards. This paper proposes a new indirect branch prediction scheme that predicts target addresses at the bit level. Using a series of perceptron-based predictors, our predictor predicts individual branch target address bits based on correlations within branch history.