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A blueprint for system-level performance modeling of software-intensive embedded systems

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Abstract

Exploration of design alternatives and estimation of their key performance metrics such as latency and energy consumption is essential for making the proper design decisions in the early phases of system development. Often, high-level models of the dynamic behavior of the system are used for the analysis of design alternatives. Our work presents a blueprint for building efficient and re-usable models for this purpose. It builds on the well-known Y-chart pattern in that it gives more structure for the proper modeling of interaction on shared resources that plays a prominent role in software-intensive embedded systems. We show how the blueprint can be used to model a small yet illustrative example system with the Uppaal tool, and with the Java general-purpose programming language, and reflect on their respective strengths and weaknesses. The Java-based approach has resulted in a very flexible and fast discrete-event simulator with many re-usable components. It currently is used by TNO-ESI and Océ-Technologies B.V. for early model-based performance analysis that supports the design process for professional printing systems.

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Notes

  1. We could have modeled an explicit memory management strategy. This, however, would complicate the model and its explanation in the next sections, which does not contribute to the goal of the example.

  2. This state is not really necessary as the speed can be 0 in RUNNING. The PREEMPTED state, however, makes this explicit.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that helped us to improve the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Embedded Systems Innovation by TNO, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Martijn Hendriks, Twan Basten & Jacques Verriet

  2. Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Twan Basten & Lou Somers

  3. Océ-Technologies B.V., Venlo, The Netherlands

    Marco Brassé & Lou Somers

Authors
  1. Martijn Hendriks
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  2. Twan Basten
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  3. Jacques Verriet
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  4. Marco Brassé
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  5. Lou Somers
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Correspondence to Martijn Hendriks.

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Hendriks, M., Basten, T., Verriet, J. et al. A blueprint for system-level performance modeling of software-intensive embedded systems. Int J Softw Tools Technol Transfer 18, 21–40 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10009-014-0340-3

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