A generic and compositional framework for multicore response time analysis

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a Multicore Response Time Analysis (MRTA) framework. This framework is extensible to different multicore architectures, with various types and arrangements of local memory, and different arbitration policies for the common interconnects. We instantiate the framework for single level local data and instruction memories (cache or scratchpads), for a variety of memory bus arbitration policies, including: Round-Robin, FIFO, Fixed-Priority, Processor-Priority, and TDMA, and account for DRAM refreshes. The MRTA framework provides a general approach to timing verification for multicore systems that is parametric in the hardware configuration and so can be used at the architectural design stage to compare the guaranteed levels of performance that can be obtained with different hardware configurations. The MRTA framework decouples response time analysis from a reliance on context independent WCET values. Instead, the analysis formulates response times directly from the demands on different hardware resources.