A new way about using statistical analysis of worst-case execution times

In this paper, we revisit the problem of using Extreme Value Theory (EVT) in the Worst-Case Execution Time (WCET) analysis of the programs running on a single processor. Our proposed statistical WCET analysis method consists of a novel sampling mechanism tackling with some problems that hindered the application of using EVT in the context, and a statistical inference about computation of a WCET estimate of the target program. To be specific, the presented sampling mechanism takes analysis samples from the target program based around end-to-end measurements. Next, the statistical inference using EVT together with other statistical techniques, analyzes such timing traces which contain the execution time data of the program, to compute a WCET estimate with a certain predictable probability of being exceeded.

[1]  Nicole A. Lazar,et al.  Statistics of Extremes: Theory and Applications , 2005, Technometrics.

[2]  Alan Burns,et al.  Realism in Statistical Analysis of Worst Case Execution Times , 2010, WCET.

[3]  David E. Goldberg,et al.  Genetic Algorithms in Search Optimization and Machine Learning , 1988 .

[4]  Yue Lu,et al.  An Approximate Timing Analysis Framework for Complex Real-Time Embedded Systems , 2010, 2010 13th IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering.

[5]  Matthias Grochtmann,et al.  Verifying Timing Constraints of Real-Time Systems by Means of Evolutionary Testing , 1998, Real-Time Systems.

[6]  Stefan Bygde,et al.  Static WCET Analysis Based on Abstract Interpretation and Counting of Elements , 2010 .

[7]  Iain Bate,et al.  WCET analysis of modern processors using multi-criteria optimisation , 2009, 2009 1st International Symposium on Search Based Software Engineering.

[8]  Gabriel A. Moreno,et al.  Statistical-Based WCET Estimation and Validation , 2009, WCET.

[9]  Yue Lu,et al.  Approximation Techniques for Timing Analysis of Complex Real-Time Embedded Systems , 2010 .

[10]  Joachim Wegener,et al.  A Comparison of Static Analysis and Evolutionary Testing for the Verification of Timing Constraints , 2004, Real-Time Systems.

[11]  H. J. Arnold.  Introduction to the Practice of Statistics , 1990 .

[12]  Alan Burns,et al.  Statistical analysis of WCET for scheduling , 2001, Proceedings 22nd IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium (RTSS 2001) (Cat. No.01PR1420).

[13]  Jakob Engblom,et al.  The worst-case execution-time problem—overview of methods and survey of tools , 2008, TECS.

[14]  Guillem Bernat,et al.  pWCET: a Tool for Probabilistic Worst-Case Execution Time Analysis of Real-Time Systems , 2003 .

[15]  Anthony C. Davison,et al.  Statistics of Extremes , 2015, International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science.

[16]  E. Ziegel.  Introduction to the Practice of Statistics (2nd ed.) , 1994 .