Rapita Systems is working with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the EU-funded PEAL projects.

The initial PEAL project showed that cache effects are a major source of variability in the execution time of programs. The PEAL project identified patterns of program execution and code layout that result in cache risks, so called "cache killers", and quantified their impact.

The main objectives of the PEAL2 project are to define; a solution to the problem of unpredictable cache behaviour, a method of analysis and code layout that guarnatees an upper bound on the maximum number of cache misses, and minimises, or even completely eliminates, the number of cache conflicts.

As part of the PEAL projects, Rapita Systems is using its expertise in developing the RapiTime worst-case execution time analysis toolset to study cache effects and its implications in space applications using the LEON2 processor. The LEON2 processor will be used in the ExoMars programme.