Scheduling hardware/software systems using symbolic techniques

Abstract

In this paper, a scheduling method for heterogeneous embedded systems is developed. At first, an internal representation model called FunState is presented which enables the explicit representation of non-determinism and scheduling using a combination of functions and state machines. The new scheduling method is able to deal with mixed data/control flow specifications and takes into account different mechanisms of non-determinism as occurring in the design of embedded systems. Constraints imposed by other already implemented components are respected. The scheduling approach avoids the explicit enumeration of execution paths by using symbolic techniques and guarantees to find a deadlock-free and bounded schedule if one exists. The generated schedule consists of statically scheduled basic blocks which are dynamically called at run time.