Technische Universität Dortmund

Role

Leading WP2, compilation, static program analysis, multi-objective optimisation.

Specific skills

The Embedded Systems Group at the Technische Universität Dortmund was founded in 1989, and has been headed by Peter Marwedel from the very beginning. In their research, members of the group focus on embedded software, with particular emphasis on compilers for embedded processors.

The group’s current focus is on advanced optimisations for embedded processors (e.g. by using bit-level dataflow analysis) and energy-aware compilation techniques. For the latter, there is a strong link to research on computer (and in particular memory) architectures. The group is leading in the area of memory-architecture-aware compilation and has clearly demonstrated how compilation techniques for scratch pad memories can improve the predictability of software.

Current research also includes high-level transformations of algorithms. Members of the group succeeded in integrating a WCET analyser provided by AbsInt into its compiler infrastructure. The WCET-aware C compiler WCC is the first and currently only fully functional compiler aiming at automated WCET minimisation. This work can be considered as the leading approach to WCET-aware compilation. Several publications describe the close link between compilers and worst-case execution time analysis. For example, the impact of cache locking as a compiler post-pass optimisation was demonstrated at an unprecedented level. Procedure cloning, implemented as a compiler pre-pass optimisation was shown to be capable of reducing worst-case execution time estimates.

Peter Marwedel and members of his chair actively participate in the compiler cluster of the European Network of Excellence ARTIST2 that combines all European groups working in this area. Peter Marwedel authored the first text book covering embedded system design from a broad perspective. In addition to the English original, German and Chinese editions are available.

In the past, faculty members also worked on test program generation and high-level synthesis. Most recently, the group participated in the MIMOLA project, one of the first projects in the area of high-level synthesis.

Key personnel

Peter Marwedel — embedded software, low-power software, compilers for embedded processors
Heiko Falk — WCET-aware compiler optimisation, compilers for embedded processors, source code optimisation
Paul Lokuciejewski — WCET-aware compiler optimisation, compilers for embedded processors, source code optimisation
Sascha Plazar

PREDATOR-related publications

WCET-Driven, Code-Size Critical Procedure Cloning (PDF, 410kB)
By Paul Lokuciejewski, Heiko Falk, and Peter Marwedel, TU Dortmund, and Henrik Theiling, AbsInt.
In: The 11th International Workshop on Software and Compilers for Embedded Systems (SCOPES) 2008.
WCET-Driven Cache-Based Procedure Positioning Optimizations (PDF, 230kB)
By Paul Lokuciejewski, Heiko Falk, and Peter Marwedel, TU Dortmund.
In: The 20th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS) 2008.
A Retargetable Framework for Multi-Objective WCET-Aware High-Level Compiler Optimization (PDF, 100kB)
By Sascha Plazar, Paul Lokuciejewski, and Peter Marwedel, TU Dortmund.
In: The 29th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium (RTSS) WiP 2008.
A Fast and Precise Static Loop Analysis Based on Abstract Interpretation, Program Slicing, and Polytope Model
By Paul Lokuciejewski, Daniel Cordes, Heiko Falk, and Peter Marwedel, TU Dortmund.
In: Code Generation and Optimization (CGO) 2009.
Automatic WCET Reduction by Machine Learning Based Heuristics for Function Inlining
By Paul Lokuciejewski, Fatih Gedikli, Peter Marwedel, and Katharina Morik, TU Dortmund.
In: The 3rd Workshop on Statistical and Machine Learning Approaches to Architectures and Compilation (SMART) 2009.