CAWET: Context-Aware Worst-Case Execution Time Estimation Using Transformers

This paper presents CAWET, a hybrid worst-case program timing estimation technique. CAWET identifies the longest execution path using static techniques, whereas the worst-case execution time (WCET) of basic blocks is predicted using an advanced language processing technique called Transformer-XL. By employing Transformers-XL in CAWET, the execution context formed by previously executed basic blocks is taken into account, allowing for consideration of the micro-architecture of the processor pipeline without explicit modeling. Through a series of experiments on the TacleBench benchmarks, using different target processors (Arm Cortex M4, M7, and A53), our method is demonstrated to never underestimate WCETs and is shown to be less pessimistic than its competitors. 2012 ACM