Integration of Code-Level and System-Level Timing Analysis for Early Architecture Exploration and Reliable Timing Verification

Developers of safety-critical real-time systems have to ensure that their systems react within given time bounds. Sophisticated tools for timing analysis at the code-level, controller-level and networked system-level are becoming state-of- the-art for efficient timing verification in light of ever increasing system complexity. This trend is exemplified by two tools: AbsInt's timing analyzer aiT, which can determine safe upper bounds for the execution times (WCETs) of non-interrupted tasks, and Symtavision's SymTA/S tool, which computes the worst-case response times (WCRTs) (7, 11, 16). of an entire system from the task WCETs and in- formation about possible interrupts and their pri- orities. The two tools thus complement each other in an ideal way. They have recently been coupled to further increase their utility. Starting from a system model, a designer can now seamlessly per- form timing budgeting, performance optimization and timing verification, considering both the code of individual functions, as well as function and sub- system integration. The paper explains and exem- plifies various use cases and tool flows.