Study of the Reliability of Statistical Timing Analysis for Real-Time Systems

Presented at 23rd International Conference on Real-Time Networks and Systems (RTNS 2015). 4 to 6, Nov, 2015, Main Track. Lille, France.Probabilistic and statistical temporal analyses have been developedas a means of determining the worst-case execution and responsetimes of real-time software for decades. A number of such methodshave been proposed in the literature, of which the majority claim tobe able to provide worst-case timing scenarios with respect to agiven likelihood of a certain value being exceeded. Further, suchclaims are based on either some estimates associated with a probability,or probability distributions with a certain level of confidence.However, the validity of the claims are very much dependent on anumber of factors, such as the achieved samples and the adopteddistributions for analysis.In this paper, we investigate whether the claims made are in facttrue as well as the establishing an understanding of the factors thataffect the validity of these claims. The results are of importancefor two reasons: to allow researchers to examine whether there areimportant issues that mean their techniques need to be refined; andso that practitioners, including industrialists who are currently usingcommercial timing analysis tools based on these types of techniques,understand how the techniques should be used to ensure theresults are fit for their purposes