Code analysis of saftey-critical and real-time software using ASIS

Abstract

The Ravenscar Profile is a restricted tasking profile that supports applications requiring separate threads of control yet would satisfy the certification requirements of high-integrity (safety-critical) real-time systems. If the Ravenscar Profile were to be used for systems having safety-critical and real-time requirements, it would be valuable to demonstrate that the application satisfies the restrictions. Code analysis is an important technique to support this demonstration. Ada Semantic Interface Specification (ASIS) based tools provide an excellent capability for the automatic identification of violations to that set of the Ravenscar Profile restrictions, which can be determined through static code analysis. All but one of these restrictions can be identified using static code analysis using ASIS. This paper provides an approach to building such an ASIS-based tool. This tool might promote the use of automatic tools for the analysis of the Ravenscar Profile and other tasking profiles to support safety-critical and real-time requirements. This paper should be viewed as work in progress.