Worst-Case Tining for Aurix

AbsInt and Infineon Technologies have worked closely together to produce a new and extended version of AbsInt’s TimeWeaver for Infineon’s 32-bit TriCore AURIX microcontroller boards.

TimeWeaver is a tool that estimates the worst-case execution time (WCET) of tasks or code snippets. Thanks to the cooperation between AbsInt and Infineon, the tool now offers direct support for the Infineon AURIX family of CPUs via the Device Access Server (DAS) tool infrastructure.

TimeWeaver combines static path analysis with timing measurements to estimate the WCET of tasks based on the execution time of trace segments obtained from real-time instruction-level tracing. The computed time bounds are valuable for optimizing the worst-case performance of real-time systems.

TimeWeaver is non-intrusive: It needs no code instrumentation that would distort the timing measurements. The user simply provides the ELF binary to be analyzed and specifies the function or task entry of interest.

With the new and extended version of TimeWeaver, the user can then connect via USB or network to the Infineon DAS Trace Server, directly talking to the Infineon AURIX Emulation Device hardware. The hardware sends the MCDS trace data back to TimeWeaver, which then computes the worst-case execution path and time. The analysis results are visualized, and a detailed report about timing contributions and trace coverage is generated.

“This easy-to-use analysis environment supports our customers in developing safe hard-real-time systems. It is an outstanding example of how AURIX’s powerful trace features can be used with a cost-effective multi-tool hardware setup”, said Albrecht Mayer, Senior Principal with Emulation Systems and Tooling at Infineon.

“With our aiT tool we offer a pure static WCET analyzer for timing-predictable AURIX cores. The hybrid approach of TimeWeaver nicely complements aiT, enabling the timing behaviour to also be analyzed for critical software running on multi-core processors”, said Christian Ferdinand, CEO of AbsInt.

About AbsInt
AbsInt provides unique development tools for embedded systems, with a focus on validation, verification and certification of safety-critical software. AbsInt’s tools help ensure that the software is reliable, robust, and less expensive to produce within a shorter development cycle.

The company name is an acronym for “abstract interpretation”, a sophisticated approach to static program analysis on which many of the company’s highly successful products are based. Founded in 1998, AbsInt is a privately-held company in Saarbrücken, Germany.

For further information, contact Gerard Fianen at INDES-IDS BV or visit www.absint.com.

05-02-2019