Upper-bounding Program Execution Time with Extreme Value Theory

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the limitations of and the precautions to account for when using Extreme Value Theory (EVT) to compute upper bounds to the execution time of programs. We analyse the requirements placed by EVT on the observations to be made of the events of interest, and the conditions that render safe the computations of execution time upper bounds. We also study the requirements that a recent EVT-based timing analysis technique, Measurement-Based Probabilistic Timing Analysis (MBPTA), introduces, besides those imposed by EVT, on the computing system under analysis to increase the trustworthiness of the upper bounds that it computes.