Performance analysis of embedded software using implicit path enumeration

Abstract

Embedded computer systems are characterized by the presence of a processor running application specific software. A large number of these systems must satisfy real-time constraints. This paper examines the problem of determining the bound on the running time of a given program on a given processor. An important aspect of this problem is determining the extreme case program paths. The state of the art solution here relies on an explicit enumeration of program paths. This runs out of steam rather quickly since the number of feasible program paths is typically exponential in the size of the program. We present a solution for this problem, which considers all paths implicitly by using integer linear programming. This solution is implemented in the program cinderella which currently targets a popular embedded processor - the Intel i960. The preliminary results of using this tool are presented here.