Paper Info
Title
Automatic Bug Detection in Microcontroller Software by Static Program Analysis
Abstract
Microcontroller software typically consists of a few hundred lines of code only, but it is rather different from standard application code. The software is highly hardware and platform specific, and bugs are often a consequence of neglecting subtle specifications of the microcontroller architecture. Currently, there are hardly any tools for analyzing such software automatically. In this paper, we outline specifics of microcontroller software that explain why those programs are different to standard C/C++ code. We develop a static program analysis for a specific microcontroller, in our case the ATmega16, to spot code deficiencies, and integrate it into our generic static analyzer Goanna. Finally, we illustrate the results by a case study of an automotive application. The case study highlights that --- even without formal proof --- the proposed static techniques can be valuable in pinpointing software bugs that are otherwise hard to find.
Year
DOI
Venue
2009
10.1007/978-3-540-95891-8_26
SOFSEM
Keywords
Field
DocType
standard application code,microcontroller software,proposed static technique,case study highlight,static program analysis,case study,code deficiency,pinpointing software bug,specific microcontroller,automatic bug detection,generic static analyzer,microcontroller architecture,lines of code
Static program analysis,Shape analysis (program analysis),Computer science,Software bug,KPI-driven code analysis,Software construction,Software framework,Operating system,Embedded system,Dead code,Source lines of code
Conference
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
5404
0302-9743
9
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.51
16
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Ansgar Fehnker173648.68
Ralf Huuck212812.89
Bastian Schlich321417.98
Michael Tapp4140.96