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HyperSSE: Cross-Domain Static Analysis of Partitioned Real-Time Hypervisor Systems

Authors Andreas Kässens , Mareike Burg , Daniel Lohmann

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LIPIcs.ECRTS.2026.23.pdf
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Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Computer systems organization → Real-time operating systems
  • Software and its engineering → Automated static analysis
Keywords
  • Static Analysis
  • Hypervisor
  • Real-Time Operating System
  • Cross-Domain

Metrics

Abstract

Timing analysis for embedded real-time systems is crucial to guarantee the correct behavior and to calculate the Worst-Case Response Time (WCRT)  of safety-critical applications. With the increasing requirements of such systems in automotive, industrial or avionic industries, consolidation of multiple real-time and general-purpose operating systems on a single high-performance Multiprocessor System-on-Chip (MPSoC) platform using Static Partitioning Hypervisors (SPHs) is becoming more prevalent. Although the strong separation is well suited to reduce interference between isolated domains in such mixed-criticality systems, cross-domain interactions must still be considered in real-time analysis. Previous work has focused on dynamic monitoring and enforcement of timing constraints in virtualized environments.
In this paper, we present HyperSSE, the first approach for the static analysis of cross-domain interactions in hypervisor-based real-time systems. By hierarchically combining existing domain-local static analyses, and synchronizing the control flow at cross-domain interactions, we enable control-flow-sensitive whole-platform analysis including multiple real-time domains. Using abstract task models, this approach can integrate a coarser analysis of general-purpose operating systems, accelerators, and coprocessors with the precise timing analysis. We demonstrate the applicability of HyperSSE in an automotive case study with mixed-criticality software stacks running on Xen in a static partitioning configuration. The resulting Hypervisor State Transition Graph (HSTG) exposes deep knowledge about the platform interactions, enabling cross-domain timing analysis with reduction of pessimistic WCRT calculations. Additionally, HyperSSE can be used for placement optimizations for better predictability, verification of critical interaction paths, and is the foundation for further platform-level analyses, such as analysis of implicit interactions through transparent resource sharing.

Cite As Get BibTex

Andreas Kässens, Mareike Burg, and Daniel Lohmann. HyperSSE: Cross-Domain Static Analysis of Partitioned Real-Time Hypervisor Systems. In 38th European Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 375, pp. 23:1-23:27, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026) https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.ECRTS.2026.23

Author Details

Andreas Kässens
  • Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
Mareike Burg
  • Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
Daniel Lohmann
  • Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany

Funding

This work was partly supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under grant no. LO 1719/4-1

Acknowledgements

We want to thank the reviewers and the shepherd for their valuable feedback and suggestions to this paper.

Supplementary Materials

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