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Tools for quality assurance of embedded systems will be presented at the international automotive exhibition (IAA) in Frankfurt.
In cars airbags, door locks and break systems are controlled by computers. These must react within a specified time frame in order to ensure that the system works correctly. It is very complicated to determine how long it takes for an embedded software to complete a task. Computer scientists from the University of Saarland have developed a program that can do just that. The program has already passed the practical test in the aircraft and automotive industry. It will be presented at the IAA PKW 2005 in Frankfurt.
Engineers call computer systems that control equipment and machines "Embedded Systems". You can find such microcomputers in microwaves, CD-players and pace makers. They are also being used widely in cars and in aircrafts. Often a computer is responsible to perform a critical task. Timely task completion is of the essence. Each real-time task has to be completed within a specified time frame in order to ensure that the system works correctly. The consequences of non-timeliness range from minor annoyance to outright disaster - just imagine airbag control software whose response is slightly off. It is the duty of the developer to guarantee that tasks always meet specified deadlines. To this day it is still difficult for developers in the automotive industry and other safety critical business branches to guarantee a timely reaction of computer programs. Computer scientists of the Saarland University have developed a tool that guarantees timely task completion. The tool can predict a computers worst case execution time in an embedded system.
This tool is already being used in automotive industry. For many of the major automotive companies and various suppliers AbsInt Angewandte Informatik GmbH, a spin-off from the Saarland University checks the reaction time of break and engine control software. Other business branches could benefit from this development as well. The aiT WCET analyzer can guarantee that tasks always meet specified deadlines for all systems on which people's life depend. Other application areas are aircraft control, rail traffic and in industrial plants.
The aiT WCET analyzer is the first automatic tool worldwide that automatically ensures the correct timing behaviour in embedded systems for non-trivial processor architectures. For its development AbsInt Angewandte Informatik GmbH (http://www.absint.de) has been awarded with the 2004 European IST-Prize, the most distinguished science award of the European Union. AbsInt is a spin-off from the Department of Compiler Construction and Programming Languages at Saarland University. AbsInt is located at the Science Park right next to the campus of Saarland University. At the international automotive exhibition (IAA PKW 2005) AbsInt will present innovative tools for program analysis and program optimization.
Technical background:
The aiT Worst Case Execution Time Analyzer makes it possible to compute upper bounds of a task's execution time in real time systems and ensures that tasks always meet specified deadlines. aiT is based on statically analyzing a task's intrinsic cache and pipeline behaviour. This enables correct and tight upper bounds to be computed for the worst-case execution time. These bounds are valid for all inputs and each task execution. Therefore error-prone and time- consuming methods based on repeated time measureing can be replaced saving valuable development time. This enhances system security and reduces costs. Due to tight upper bounds Ensuring deadline adherence is no longer done at the expense of hardware resources.
aiT facilitates the following processors: ARM7, Motorola Star12/HCS12, PowerPC 555 and 565, Motorola Cold Fire5307,Texas Instruments TMS320C3x and now also C16x and ST10 as well as TriCore.
Based on the same static program analysis technology, AbsInt has developed the StackAnalyzer tool to automatically determine the worst-case stack usage of tasks in embedded applications. Runtime errors due to stack overflow are a thing of the past.
At the 2. Saarbrücker IT-Dialog "The 100%-save car made in Saarland" taking place on September 16 at 10:30 AM at the IAA (Congress Center Messe Frankfurt) Dr. Christian Ferdinand, Managing Director of AbsInt Angewandte Informatik GmbH will give a talk about "Is your program always fast enough?". At the symposium photorealistic visualization of automotive models, communication and driver assistance systems will be presented also as well as control and regulation of active carriage components.
A detailed program of the symposium can be found at:
http://<www.informatik-saarland.de/001.AktuellTop/>;
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. journalists are invited to get to know all experts from science and industry. For more information visit the Saarland community stand from AbsInt (hall 4.1, stand E15). For an appointment at the IAA PKW 2005 please call: +49 681 8318317.
Press-pictures: http://<www.absint.com/press >
For more questions please contact:
Dr. Christian Ferdinand
Tel: +49 681 8318317
E-Mail: ferdinand@absint.com
Or
Friederike Meyer zu Tittingdorf
Tel. +49 681 30258099
Email: presse@cs.uni-sb.de
http://www.informatik-saarland.de
Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
Informationstechnik, Maschinenbau, Verkehr / Transport
überregional
Buntes aus der Wissenschaft, Forschungsergebnisse
Englisch
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