WoPANets: Decision-support Tool for real-time Networks
Design
Ahlem Mifdaoui 09-06-2016
Innovation IT Day
Context & Motivations
Increasing complexity of real-time networks:
Mixed-criticality data delivery
Multi-hop real-time communication
Heterogeneous architecture
Large-scale networks
Cyclic dependencies at the communication level
Deterministic guarantees of temporal and hardware constraints are of the utmost importance
Choosing the right network’s parameters respecting the system constraints becomes a difficult task for designer
Context & Motivations
• An accurate timing verification approach is needed to guarantee the network requirements, since the first steps of the design cycle
System-level performance analysis
• The designer need to choose the right system’s parameters before investing too much time in detailed implementations
A new decision-support tool, WoPANets (Worst Case Performance Analysis of Embedded Networks)
Enhancing the design process time and costs of real-time networks
Related Work Overview
The design space exploration approaches for real-time systems are mainly focused on the SW/HW Partitioning/ Mapping issues and generally:
Simplify the communication network by considering an arbitrary maximum delay bound
Ignore completely the communication issue
However,
Integrating the accurate design of the communication network with the SW/HW partitioning will clearly enhance the system performance
Outline
• Introduction
• Performance Analysis Methodology
• Applications
• Decision-support Tool
• Conclusions & Key Perspectives
Timing Verification Approach
Need an accurate verification approach to handle
Worst-case behavior to fulfill certification requirements
Scalability requirements
Simple to conduct
Tight results
Existing approaches
Simulation-based: simulating the entire system leads to high complexity and limited efficiency
Analytical-based: various existing approaches to analyze the worst-case behavior
The most relevant is Network Calculus used for the AFDX certification
Methodology overview
Specificatio n
#step1 Specificatio
n
#step1
System Modeling
#step2 System Modeling
#step2
Performanc e analysis
#step3 Performanc
e analysis
#step3 Performanc
optimizatione
#step4 Performanc optimizatione
#step4 Refinement
#step5 Refinement
#step5
Outline
• Introduction
• Performance Analysis Methodology
• Applications
• Decision-support Tool
• Conclusions & Key Perspectives
Real-Time Networks
• AFDX standard for avionics
• Most common Real-Time Ethernet profiles for automation and automotive
• Spacewire for satellites
• Network On Chip for the Many-core Architecture
• …
Outline
• Introduction
• Performance Analysis Methodology
• Applications
• Decision-support Tool: WoPANets
• Conclusions & Key Perspectives
Worst-case Performance Analysis of embedded Networks
• Performs a system level performance evaluation based on NC
Certification requirements
• Includes an optimization process for design space exploration
Enhance the design process time and costs
• Compatibility with existent conception approaches (UML, AADL)
Easy to use within design cycle
• Integrate high level models of the most common real-time networks
• Easy to use by any designer without any specific knowledge of the used analytical formalism due to an ergonomic GUI
• Modular and Easy to extend
Decision-support tool WoPANets (1)
Decision-support tool WoPANets (2)
Palette
Flow/Node Properties
Results Analysis & Optimization
Decision-support tool WoPANets (3)
Related projects
• ANR Emergence 2012 (WoPANets), Valorisation projects with Airbus Group and ESA (under
submission) Publications
Mifdaoui, Ahlem and Ayed, Hamdi “WOPANets: a tool for WOrst case
performance analysis of embedded networks”. In: International Workshop on Computer-Aided Modeling Analysis and Design of Communication Links and Networks (CAMAD), 03-04 Dec 2010, Miami, United States.
Apvrille, Ludovic and Saqui-Sannes, Pierre de and Mifdaoui, Ahlem “A UML framework for the dimensioning and formal verification of embedded systems”. In: SAFA Annual Workshop on Formal Methods (SAFA 2009), 23 Sept 2009, Sophia-Antipolis, France.
