Efficient Tracing Methodology Using Automata Processor

Abstract

Tracing or trace interface has been used in various ways to find system defects or bugs. As embedded systems are increasingly used in safety-critical applications, tracing can provide useful information during system execution at runtime. Non-intrusive tracing that does not affect system performance has become especially important, but unfortunately, the biggest obstacle to this approach was the vast amount of real-time trace data, making it challenging to address complex requirements with relatively limited hardware implementations. Automata processors can be programmed with a memory-like structure of automata and have a structure specific to streaming data, large capacity, and parallel processing functions. This paper promotes the idea of high-level system-on-chip monitoring using automata processors. We used a safety-critical pacemaker application in the experiments, described timed automata (TA)-based requirements, and tested intentionally injected 4,000 random failures. The TA model converted for Automata Processor to monitor system, correctness, and safety properties achieved 100% failure detection rate in the experiment, and the detected failure is reported as fast enough to allow enough extent for failure recovery.