A Method Cache for Patmos

For real-time systems we need time-predictable processors. This paper presents a method cache as a time-predictable solution for instruction caching. The method cache caches whole methods (or functions) and simplifies worst-case execution time analysis. We have integrated the method cache in the time-predictable processor Patmos. We evaluate the method cache with a large set of embedded benchmarks. Most benchmarks show a good hit rate for a method cache size in the range between 4 and 16 KB.