A tool for automatic flow analysis of C-programs for WCET calculation

Abstract

Bounding the worst case execution time (WCET) of programs is essential for real-time systems. To be able to do WCET calculations, the iteration bounds for loops and recursion must be known. We describe a prototype tool that calculates these bounds automatically, thereby avoiding the need for manual annotations by the programmer. The analysis is based on an intermediate code representation, which means that compiler optimized code is analyzed. The choice of intermediate code also allows the analysis to support the number of programming languages. C programs are targeted. We also show an example of a program analysis using our method.