An evaluation of free/open source static analysis tools applied to embedded software

Abstract

Static analysis can be a valuable strategy to improve the quality of embedded software at a lower development cost. In this paper, we have surveyed ten different free/open source tools that perform static software analysis and evaluated their use in embedded software. Experimental results show that the studied tools present widely different results, and most of them are not ready to be applied to embedded systems. Furthermore, we discuss possible directions to improve the use of static analysis tools in the embedded domain.