Modeling of hardware software performance of high-tech systems

The performance of the control system is an important aspect of a machine. It would be a waste if a high-tech machine has been build such that it can physically achieve a high throughput, for example printed sheets of paper, but is limited because the software controlling it cannot keep up. Unfortunately, with current techniques it is hard to “predict” beforehand what the performance of the software will be when it finally runs in the real system on the real processor(s). There are two (extreme) ways to deal with it: 1. Over-dimension the hardware platform to make sure the software will run. 2. Implement the software, then run and evaluate its performance on the target hardware platform. Then use this information in the next design cycle. The disadvantages of both approaches are clear. In the first situation the cost price of the entire system will surely be higher than necessary. In the second case, the design time is increased dramatically because more design cycles are needed. Therefore, it is important to strive to a development method that leads to fast design cycles for software performance, while having an accurate enough prediction. In this paper we will discuss a pragmatic modeling approach to design for performance in the domain of software intensive systems.