Cycle 2 (deblocking) Phase 1-3: M3'' = 48.285 Medge/s baseline

Second kernel candidate per phase7_M4.md verdict "next-kernel cycle
authorised". VP9 4-tap inner loop filter, horizontal direction,
8-pixel edge (libavcodec ff_vp9_loop_filter_h_4_8_neon as baseline).
Different workload shape from IDCT - boundary streaming, lighter
compute per unit, per-row conditionals - tests whether QPU win
generalises.

docs/k2_deblock_phase1.md - goal-setting. Same R-band decision rules
as cycle 1 (phase1.md), with the cycle-1 calibration adjustment:
ORANGE band is no longer auto-close because M4 showed mixed > pure
CPU even at modest R when CPU bandwidth-saturates.

docs/k2_deblock_phase2.md - situation analysis. C reference already
in vendored snapshot (vp9dsp_template.c:1780-1898). Fetched
vp9lpf_neon.S fresh (1334 lines, LGPL-2.1+, FFmpeg n7.1.3 pin,
SHA-256 384e49e7...). PROVENANCE.md updated.

docs/k2_deblock_phase3.md - NEON baseline:

  M1''_c bit-exact     100.0000 % (10000 random edges)
  M3'' throughput      48.285 Medge/s  (20.7 ns/edge, single A76)
  per-frame 1080p-eq   748 FPS (worst case 64 530 edges/frame)
  cycles/edge          ~58 (=20.7ns x 2.8GHz), ~7 cycles/row

LPF is 5.9x faster per-unit than IDCT M3 (20.7 vs 122 ns), so the
QPU break-even point moves down. Predicted R''_v1 band ~0.5-0.9
- frame-level batching amortises the same 33us dispatch overhead;
workload becomes bandwidth-bound rather than compute-bound
(~5.7 MB/frame traffic at 64 530 edges x ~88 B per edge).

New artifacts:
- tests/vp9_lpf_ref.c    - standalone bit-exact C ref (8-bit, wd=4
                           inner only; clean transcription)
- tests/bench_neon_lpf.c - M1''_c gate + M3'' time-based bench
                           (5s window, edge-content-biased RNG for
                           realistic fm/hev hit rates)
- external/ffmpeg-snapshot/libavcodec/aarch64/vp9lpf_neon.S
- CMakeLists.txt updated with bench_neon_lpf target

Phase 4 next: plan the QPU LPF compute shader. Cycle 1's phase4.md
+ phase5.md + phase7.md learnings apply directly - bake in the v4
winning patterns from the start (WG=256, edges-per-subgroup
pattern adapted from blocks, uint8_t dst SSBO, oob flag, unrolled
writes).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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---
cycle: 2
phase: 3
status: closed 2026-05-18
date_opened: 2026-05-18
date_closed: 2026-05-18
parent: k2_deblock_phase2.md
host: hertz (Pi 5, 8 GB, Debian Trixie, kernel 6.12.75+rpt-rpi-2712,
Mesa 25.0.7-2+rpt4, V3D 7.1.7 @ 1 GHz, A76 @ 2.8 GHz)
---
# Cycle 2, Phase 3 — NEON M3'' baseline
Per `dev_process.md`: real measurements, before any changes.
## Raw
```
=== M1''_c: bit-exact correctness (10000 random edges) ===
M1''_c correctness: 10000 / 10000 edges bit-exact (100.0000%)
=== M3'': NEON throughput ===
M3'' NEON throughput:
edges/batch: 65536
batches done: 2009
total edges: 131 661 824
elapsed (kernel)=2.726785 s (setup-subtracted)
elapsed (setup) =2.273954 s
throughput = 48.285 Medge/s
per-edge = 20.7 ns
equiv 1080p = 748.3 FPS (~64530 edges/frame, worst case)
```
## Numbers
| | |
|---|---|
| **M1''_c (bit-exact)** | **100.0000 %** vs `daedalus_vp9_loop_filter_h_4_8_ref` |
| **M3'' (throughput)** | **48.285 Medge/s** (single A76 core @ 2.8 GHz) |
| per-edge | 20.7 ns |
| cycles/edge | 20.7 ns × 2.8 GHz ≈ 58 cycles (~7 cycles per pixel-row) |
| 1080p FPS-equivalent | 748 FPS (worst-case 64 530 edges) |
## Comparison vs cycle-1 IDCT M3
| | IDCT 8×8 | LPF h_4_8 | ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per-unit (block / edge) | 122.4 ns | 20.7 ns | **LPF 5.9× faster** |
| 1080p FPS-eq, single core | 252 FPS | 748 FPS | LPF 3.0× |
| Realistic CPU ceiling (4-core, bw-saturated from M4) | ~7 Mblock/s | (not yet measured) | TBD |
LPF is *much* lighter per-unit than IDCT — fewer ops, smaller working
set per call. Cycle 2's QPU target gets correspondingly harder: the
break-even point against NEON moves down. Predicted at Phase 4.
## Setup overhead caveat
Notable: setup (memcpy of 65 536 × 64 B per batch = 4 MiB pred restore)
is 45 % of total wall-clock. The subtraction step matters here more
than for IDCT (where setup was ~9 %). Phase 3 capture validates the
subtraction is working — the kernel-only number is consistent across
runs.
## Decision thresholds for the upcoming QPU kernel (M2'' / R'')
Per `k2_deblock_phase1.md §"Decision rules"`, R'' = M2'' / M3'' bands:
| R'' | Verdict | Implication |
|---|---|---|
| ≥ 1.0 | QPU ≥ NEON in isolation | unlikely — Phase 4 prediction calibrates against the 6× compute lightness |
| 0.5 ≤ R'' < 1.0 | YELLOW: M4'' decides | the actually likely band given LPF is bandwidth-bound on a small working set |
| 0.1 ≤ R'' < 0.5 | ORANGE: M4'' may still rescue | run M4'' anyway per cycle-1 calibration |
| < 0.1 | RED: structural | Phase 9 close cycle 2 |
Naive prediction for M2'': the IDCT cycle hit R = 0.92 because LPF's
per-block compute is so much lighter than IDCT's. The QPU kernel
will inherit roughly the same per-dispatch overhead floor (~33 µs
from Phase 3 M5) but each unit of QPU work yields ~6× less output.
**Predicted R''_v1: 0.150.30 if the kernel is bandwidth/launch-bound,
0.5+ if computation is hidden under dispatch/sync.** Phase 4 will
sharpen this.
## What's not in this number
- M3'' is single-core. Phase 7'' / M4'' adds 4-core NEON ceiling
(which from cycle 1's M4 F1 finding we know is bandwidth-capped,
not 4× single-core) and the mixed configurations.
- Edge content distribution: the bench biases toward `fm`-passing
edges (different mean each side, small noise). Real bitstream
distributions may flip the fm-pass rate. Phase 7 may revisit.
- The vertical variant (`ff_vp9_loop_filter_v_4_8_neon`) has
different memory access; should be ~similar throughput but
Phase 7 confirms.
## Artifacts
- `tests/vp9_lpf_ref.c` — standalone C reference (clean transcription
of vp9dsp_template.c:1780-1898, 4-tap inner only)
- `tests/bench_neon_lpf.c` — M1''_c + M3'' bench
- `external/ffmpeg-snapshot/libavcodec/aarch64/vp9lpf_neon.S`
vendored at FFmpeg n7.1.3 commit f46e514 (SHA-256 in PROVENANCE.md)
- `CMakeLists.txt` — adds `bench_neon_lpf` target with the LPF .S
source built against the existing `FFASM_FLAGS` shim
Phase 4 next: plan the QPU LPF compute shader. The IDCT cycle's
`phase4.md` is the template; constraints C1-C10 carry forward
unchanged.