Identifying Relevant Parameters to Improve WCET Analysis

Highly-configurable systems usually depend on a large number of parameters imposed by both hardware and software configuration. Due to the pessimistic assumptions of WCET analysis, if left unspecified, they deteriorate the quality of WCET analysis. In such a case, supplying the WCET analyzer with additional information about parameters (a scenario), e.g. possible variable ranges or values, allows reducing WCET over-estimation, either by improving the estimate, or by validating the initial estimate for a specific configuration or mode of execution. Nevertheless, exhaustively specifying constraints on all parameters is usually infeasible and identifying relevant ones (i.e. those impacting the WCET) is difficult. To address this issue, we propose the branching statement analysis, which uses a source-based heuristic to compute branch weights and that aims at listing unbalanced conditionals that correspond to system parameters. The goal is to help system-experts identify and formulate concise scenarios about modes or configurations that have a positive impact on the quality of the WCET analysis.