A novel framework for design and analysis of embedded software with variable constraints

一种用于设计和分析具有可变约束的嵌入式软件的新颖框架

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-05494
• 负责人: Azim, Akramul
• 金额: $ 1.68万
• 依托单位: University of Ontario Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=713708
• 关键词: novel; framework; design; analysis; embedded

Modern embedded systems need design considerations for applications that may require changing their behavior over time. To run an application in different situations, embedded systems need to consider different user-driven constraints such as safety, security, or usability, and system-oriented constraints such as cost, timing, energy consumption, and throughput. However, these constraints may oppose each other, and therefore improving one means accepting deterioration in another. For example, physical redundancy might increase safety while also increasing the attack surface and thereby reducing security. Balancing the constraints provides a good performance of the system; however this might not work well for applications in situations that require optimization of a particular constraint or a combination of constraints. The requirement to operate an embedded system in different configurations associated with variable constraints fosters the development of a novel framework composed of a set of innovative design and analysis methods and tools. Several research problems exist in designing an embedded software with variable constraints. First, selecting an efficient set of design elements and their configurations is challenging because of the evolving requirements of tasks and messages in an application and the presence of a wide variety of embedded systems. Secondly, proper analysis on tolerable delays for variable constraints is required to reduce overprovisioning of resources. The framework will map workloads into different configurations or modes, where each configuration optimizes a particular or a combination of constraints. However, mapping variable constraints to multiple modes may require adaptation of an existing scheduling strategy or a new one. Moreover, an application can provide acceleration of performance upon multiprocessor platforms, but the mapping of workloads to processors requires rigorous analysis. Finally, analytics is necessary to identify uncertainties and generate recommendations for configuration changes or adaptations. The proposed framework for design and analysis of embedded software comprises the following research activities: (1) efficient selection of design elements and their configurations, (2) analyzing delays for workloads with variable constraints, (3) mapping variable constraints to multiple modes, and (4) processing of events and analytics. Throughout the research process, students will receive specialized training in high-demand embedded software and gain skills which will introduce new embedded software design practices, achieving a closer coupling of user- and system-oriented constraints. The outcomes promise to improve Canadians' ability to gain insights from economically and socially important case studies in domains from consumer electronics to the Internet of Things.

现代嵌入式系统需要对可能需要随时间改变其行为的应用程序进行设计考虑。为了在不同情况下运行应用程序，嵌入式系统需要考虑不同的用户驱动约束（例如安全性、保密性或可用性）以及面向系统的约束（例如成本、时序、能耗和吞吐量）。然而，这些约束可能相互对立，因此改进一个约束就意味着接受另一个约束的恶化。例如，物理冗余可能会提高安全性，同时也会增加攻击面，从而降低安全性。平衡约束提供了系统的良好性能；然而，这对于需要优化特定约束或约束组合的情况下的应用程序可能效果不佳。在与可变约束相关的不同配置中操作嵌入式系统的要求促进了由一组创新设计和分析方法和工具组成的新颖框架的开发。 在设计具有可变约束的嵌入式软件时存在几个研究问题。首先，由于应用程序中任务和消息的需求不断变化以及各种嵌入式系统的存在，选择一组有效的设计元素及其配置具有挑战性。其次，需要对可变约束的可容忍延迟进行适当分析，以减少资源的过度配置。该框架将工作负载映射到不同的配置或模式，其中每种配置优化特定的约束或约束的组合。然而，将变量约束映射到多种模式可能需要适应现有的调度策略或新的调度策略。此外，应用程序可以在多处理器平台上提供性能加速，但工作负载到处理器的映射需要严格的分析。最后，需要进行分析来识别不确定性并生成配置更改或调整的建议。所提出的嵌入式软件设计和分析框架包括以下研究活动：（1）设计元素及其配置的有效选择，（2）分析具有可变约束的工作负载的延迟，（3）将可变约束映射到多种模式，以及(4) 事件处理和分析。 在整个研究过程中，学生将接受高要求嵌入式软件的专门培训，并获得技能，从而引入新的嵌入式软件设计实践，实现面向用户和面向系统的约束的更紧密耦合。研究结果有望提高加拿大人从消费电子产品到物联网等领域的经济和社会重要案例研究中获得见解的能力。