Control-flow-driven source level timing annotation for embedded software models on transaction level

Instrumented software models feature a combination of software functionality as well as timing information to model execution times on embedded processors. They aim to replace instruction set simulators in virtual prototypes (VP) of embedded systems to improve simulation efficiency. In this work, a novel control flow mapping algorithm is presented to automatically generate timing annotations for instrumented software models. The method is based on the analysis of loop and control dependency properties of basic code blocks in the binary and source code control flow. With these properties, the method can find suitable positions to annotate the timing delay statements of binary code basic blocks into the source code. It shows high accuracy even in the case that the binary code is optimized during compilation. The paper also presents the novel idea of adding timing control statements into the source code to improve timing accuracy. The error in runtime estimation was found to be below 6% for standard test programs. A case study for a VP shows a gain in simulation efficiency of three orders of magnitude compared to an ISS based model.