Cross-platform verification framework for embedded systems

Many innovations in the automotive sector involve complex electronics and embedded software systems. Testing techniques are one of the key methodologies for detecting faults in such embedded systems.In this paper, a novel cross-platform verification framework including automated test-case generation by model checking is introduced. Comparing the execution behavior of a program instance running on a certain platform to the execution behavior of the same program running on a different platform we denote cross-platform verification. The framework supports various types of coverage criteria. It turned out that end-to-end testing is of high importance due to defects occurring on the actual target platform for the first time.Additionally, formal verification can be applied for checking requirements resulting from the specification using the same model generation mechanism that is used for test data generation. Due to a novel self-assessment mechanism, the confidence into the formal models is increased significantly.We provide a case study for the Motorola embedded controller HCS12 that is heavily used by the automotive industry. We perform structural tests on industrial code patterns using a wide-spread industrial compiler. Using our technique, we found two severe compiler defects that have been corrected in subsequent releases

Portable data exchange for remote-testing frameworks

To communicate between heterogeneous computer systems, mechanisms for data conversion are necessary. In this paper we present a portable, asymmetric data conversion method that is suitable for remote testing frameworks in embedded systems development. The described method takes the resource limitations of embedded systems into account by doing the data conversion at the testing host. The method can be implemented as platform-independent source code and it avoids the need of recompiling the code of a communication partner if the code of the other communication partner is migrated to a different platform

WCET Analysis: The Annotation Language Challenge

Worst-case execution time (WCET) analysis is indispensable for the successful design and development of systems, which, in addition to their functional constraints, have to satisfy hard real-time constraints. The expressiveness and usability of annotation languages, which are used by algorithms and tools for WCET analysis in order to separate feasible from infeasible program paths, have a crucial impact on the precision and performance of these algorithms and tools. In this paper, we thus propose to complement the WCET tool challenge, which has recently successfully been launched, by a second closely related challenge: the WCET annotation language challenge. We believe that contributions towards mastering this challenge will be essential for the next major step of advancing the field of WCET analysis

Measurement-Based Timing Analysis

In this paper we present a measurement-based worst-case execution time (WCET) analysis method. Exhaustive end-to-end execution-time measurements are computationally intractable in most cases. Therefore, we propose to measure execution times of subparts of the application code and then compose these times into it safe WCET bound. This raises a number of challenges to be solved. First. there is the question of how to define and Subsequently calculate adequate subparts. Second, a huge amount of test data is required enforcing the execution of selected paths to perform the desired runtime measurements. The presented method provides solutions to both problems. In a number of experiments we show the usefulness of the theoretical concepts and the practical feasibility by using current state-of-the-art industrial case studies from project partners

Automatic timing model generation by CFG partitioning and model checking

“This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder." “Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.”We present a new measurement-based worst-case execution time (WCET) analysis method. Exhaustive end-to-end measurements are computationally intractable in most cases. Therefore, we propose to measure execution times of subparts of the application. We use heuristic methods and model checking to generate test data, forcing the execution of selected paths to perform run-time measurements. The measured times are used to calculate the WCET in a final computation step. As we operate on the source code level, our approach is platform independent except for the run-time measurements performed on the target host. We show the feasibility of the required steps and explain our approach by means of a case study

Portable Data Exchange for Remote-Testing Frameworks ∗

To communicate between heterogeneous computer systems, mechanisms for data conversion are necessary. In this paper we present a portable, asymmetric data conversion method that is suitable for remote testing frameworks in embedded systems development. The described method takes the resource limitations of embedded systems into account by doing the data conversion at the testing host. The method can be implemented as platform-independent source code and it avoids the need of recompiling the code of a communication partner if the code of the other communication partner is migrated to a different platform.

Measurement-based worst-case execution time analysis using automatic test-data generation

In the last years the number of electronic control systems has increased significantly. In order to stay competitive more and more functionality is integrated into more and more powerful and complex computer hardware. Due to these advances in control systems engineering new challenges for analyzing the timing behavior of real-time computer systems arise. The two identified main challenges are execution-time modeling of the hardware and the path problem that forbids capturing the worst-case execution time (WCET) by end-to-end measurements due to limits in computational complexity. This work presents the cornerstones of our new measurement-based WCET analysis method that successfully addresses these problems. We clearly identify our research goals and the relevance of our research. Especially, the novel aspects of our approach are emphasized. The conclusion is formed by a brief presentation of an industrial-size case study application. 1