Generalizing parametric timing analysis

In the design of real-time and embedded systems, it is important to establish a bound on the worst-case execution time (WCET) of programs to assure via schedulability analysis that deadlines are not missed. Static WCET analysis is performed by a timing analysis tool. This paper describes novel improvements to such a tool, allowing parametric timing analysis to be performed. Parametric timing analyzers receive an upper bound on the number of loop iterations in terms of an expression which is used to create a parametric formula. This parametric formula is later evaluated to determine the WCET based on input values only known at runtime. Effecting a transformation from a numeric to a parametric timing analyzer requires two innovations: 1) a summation solver capable of summation non-constant expressions and 2) a polynomial data structure which can replace integers as the basis for all calculations. Both additions permit other methods of analysis (e.g. caching, pipeline, constraint) to occ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: LCTRTS
• Authors: Joel Coffman, Christopher A. Healy, Frank Mueller, David B. Whalley
• Keywords: LCTRTS 2007, Parametric Timing, Parametric Timing Analysis, Parametric Timing Analyzer, Software Engineering