Write-Back Caches in WCET Analysis

Abstract

Write-back caches are a popular choice in embedded microprocessors as they promise higher performance than write-through caches. So far, however, their use in hard real-time systems has been prohibited by the lack of adequate worst-case execution time (WCET) analysis support. In this paper, we introduce a new approach to statically analyze the behavior of write-back caches. Prior work took an eviction-focussed perspective, answering for each potential cache miss: May this miss evict a dirty cache line and thus cause a write back? We complement this approach by exploring a store-focussed perspective, answering for each store: May this store dirtify a clean cache line and thus cause a write back later on? Experimental evaluation demonstrates substantial precision improvements when both perspectives are combined. For most benchmarks, write-back caches are then preferable to write-through caches in terms of the computed WCET bounds.