Pinpointing interrupts in embedded real-time systems using context checksums

When trying to track down bugs using cyclic debugging, the ability to correctly reproduce executions is imperative. In sequential, deterministic, non-real-time software, this reproducibility is inherent. However, when the execution is affected by preemptive interrupts, this will have severe effects on the ability to reproduce program behaviors deterministically, since a reproduction requires the interrupts to hit the program at the exact same instructions. In previous methods, this problem has been solved using different kinds of instruction counters, that induce large execution time perturbations, demand for specialized hardware, or provide inexact results. This makes them highly unfit for resource-constrained embedded real-time systems. In this paper, we propose an alternative method for pinpointing interrupts in embedded real-time systems using context checksums, which is not dependent on specific hardware features or special compilers - but which rather can be applied to any sys...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: ETFA
• Authors: Daniel Sundmark, Henrik Thane
• Keywords: Embedded Real-time Systems, Emerging Technology, ETFA 2008, Execution Time, Interrupts