US-Tunisia Cooperative Research: Analysis of Interrupt Latency Using Hybrid Machines

0213651 LinDescription：该奖项是为了表彰密歇根州底特律韦恩州立大学电气和计算机工程系冯琳教授和突尼斯突尼斯国家科学信息学院(ENSI)应用计算机科学系Nejib Ben Hadj-Alouane博士的合作项目。本项目旨在研究软件设计中的中断延迟问题。大多数微处理器/微控制器系统包含中断源和中断服务例程，中断服务例程是响应硬件中的中断断言而执行的软件组件。因为中断服务例程在相同的中央处理单元(CPU)上执行，所以它们竞争CPU并干扰彼此的延迟要求。延迟被定义为硬件中中断的断言和相关中断服务例程开始执行之间的延迟。一个重要的问题是，一组特定的中断源和中断服务例程是否可以在相同的微处理器/微控制器软件加载中共存，而不会导致中断等待时间违规。研究人员计划使用最近开发的混合机器框架来解决这个问题。他们将中断源和中断服务例程建模为混合机器。这个项目的主要任务是开发通用微处理器/微控制器系统的模型，检查混合机器协同可达性的高效算法，用C等编程语言表示混合机器模型的有效方法，以及帮助工程师检查软件中的中断延迟违规以及如何消除违规的软件工具。范围：这两位科学家曾在1994年和1997年合作并联合发表论文，当时Hadj-Alouane博士分别受雇于陶氏化学公司和密歇根大学。他们在这个项目中提出的模型可能会在软件设计实践中产生重要的变化。该项目将允许林博士访问突尼斯，并将鼓励韦恩州立大学和突尼斯ENSI之间开展互利的国际合作。该项目的资金由国际科学和工程办公室、计算机通信研究司以及实验和综合活动司提供。

0213651LinDescription: This award is for support of a cooperative project by Professor Feng Lin, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan and Dr. Nejib Ben Hadj-Alouane, Department of Applied Computer Sciences at the Ecole Nationale d' Sciences Informatique (ENSI) in Tunis, Tunisia. This project is to investigate the interrupt latency problem in software design. Most microprocessor/microcontroller systems contain sources of interrupt and interrupt service routines, which are software components executing in response to the assertion of an interrupt in hardware. Because the interrupt service routines execute on the same Central Processing Unit (CPU), they compete for the CPU and interfere with each other's latency requirements. Latency is defined as the delay between the assertion of the interrupt in hardware and the start of execution of the associated interrupt service routine. An important problem is whether a specific set of sources of interrupt and interrupt service routines can coexist in the same microprocessor/microcontroller software load without causing interrupt latency violations. The investigators plan to use a recently developed framework of hybrid machines to solve this problem. They will model sources of interrupt and interrupt service routines as hybrid machines. The main task of this project is to develop models for common microprocessor/microcontroller systems, efficient algorithms to check co-reachability in hybrid machines, efficient ways to represent hybrid machine models in programming languages such as C, and software tools that will help engineers to check interrupt latency violations in software and the how to eliminate the violations.Scope: The two scientists have collaborated and published jointly in 1994 and in 1997 while Dr. Hadj-Alouane was employed at Dow Chemicals Company and at the University of Michigan respectively. The model they propose in this project may result in important changes in practice for software design. The project will allow for visits by Dr. Lin to Tunisia and will encourage a mutually beneficial international collaboration between the Wayne State University and the ENSI in Tunisia. Funds for this project are provided by the Office of International Science and Engineering, the Division of Computer-Communications Research and Division of Experimental and Integrative Activities.