Towards a flow analysis for embedded system C programs

Reliable program worst-case execution time (WCET) estimates are a key component when designing and verifying real-time systems. One way to derive such estimates is by static WCET analysis methods, relying on mathematical models of the software and hardware involved. This paper describes an approach to static flow analysis for deriving information on the possible execution paths of C programs. This includes upper bounds for loops, execution dependencies between different code parts and safe determination of possible pointer values. The method builds upon abstract interpretation, a classical program analysis technique, which is adopted to calculate flow information and to handle the specific properties of the C programming language.