Introduction to Real-Time

Systems

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 What is a Real-Time System?

Real-time systems have been defined as:

"those systems in which the correctness of
the system depends not only on the logical
result of the computation, but also on the
time at which the results are produced";
J. Stankovic, "Misconceptions About Real-
Time Computing," IEEE Computer, 21(10),
October 1988.

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Real-Time Characteristics
Real-time systems often are comprised of a
controlling system, controlled system and
environment.
Controlling system: acquires information about
environment using sensors and controls the environment
with actuators.
Timing constraints derived from physical impact of
controlling systems activities. Hard and soft
constraints.
Periodic Tasks: Time-driven recuring at regular intervals.
Aperiodic: event-driven.

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Typical Real-Time System

Con trolled System

sensor
sensor
sensor
Controlling sensor
Environment
System actuator
actuator
actuator
actuator

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Some Definitions
Timing constraint: constraint imposed on timing
behavior of a job: hard or soft.
Release Time: Instant of time job becomes available
for execution. If all jobs are released when the system
begins execution, then there is said to be no release
time
Deadline: Instant of time a job's execution is required
to be completed. If deadline is infinity, then job has
no deadline. Absolute deadline is equal to release time
plus relative deadline
Response time: Length of time from release time to
instant job completes.
Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems
 Hard versus Soft
Hard: failure to meet constraint is a fatal fault.
Validation system always meets timing constraints.
Deterministic constraints
Probabilistic constraints
Constraints in terms of some usefulness function.
Soft: late completion is undesirable but generally not
fatal. No validation or only demonstration job meets
some statistical constraint. Occasional missed
deadlines or aborted execution is usually considered
tolerable. Often specified in probabilistic terms

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Validating Constraints
Validation: Demonstration by a provably
correct, efficient procedure or by exhaustive
simulation and testing. Involves three steps:
1. timing constraints of each application and
corresponding components are consistent,
2. each component can meet its timing constraints
if executed alone and required resources are
available,
3. The underlying scheduling algorithm(s), all
timing constraints are met

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Developing a Reference Model
Modeling the system to focus on timing properties and
resource requirements. Composed of three elements:
workload model - describes applications supported by
system
Temporal parameters
Precedence constraints and dependencies
Functional parameters
resource model - describes system resources available to
applications
Modeling resources (Processors and Resources)
Resource parameters
algorithms - defines how application uses resources at all
times.
Scheduling Hierarchy

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Tasks and Jobs: Definitions
Task (Ti): Set of related jobs jointly provide
function.
Job (Jij): Unit of work, scheduled and executed
by system. characterized by the following
parameters:
Temporal parameters: timing constraints and
behavior
Functional parameters: intrinsic properties of the job.
Resource parameters: resource requirements.
Interconnection parameters: how it depends on other
jobs and how other jobs depend on it
Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems
 Resources
Resources can be divided into passive and
active:
Active resources == Processors (Pi): they execute
jobs.
Every job must have one or more processors
Same type if functionally identical and used
interchangeably.
Passive resource == Resource (Ri):
job may require Resources in addition to processor.
reusable resources are not consumed

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Job/Task Temporal Parameters
Hard real-time: number and parameters of tasks
are known at all time.
for Job Ji:
ri - release time, may know range [r-, r+] (jitter). For
aperiodic/sporadic release or interrelease time is a
random variable.
di - absolute deadline
Di - relative deadline
(ri, di] - feasible interval
ei - Execution time. May know range [e-, e+]. Most
deterministic models use e+.
Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems
 Periodic Task Model
Jobs repeated at regular or semi-regular intervals
modeled as periodic.
Task Ti is a serious of periodic Jobs Jij.
pi - period, minimum interrelease interval between jobs in
Task Ti. Must be bounded from below.
ei - maximum execution time for jobs in task Ti.
rij - release time of the jth Job in Task i (Jij in Ti).
i - phase of Task Ti, equal to ri1.
H - Hyperperiod = Least Common Multiple of pi for all i: H
= lcm(pi), for all i.
ui - utilization of Task Ti.
U - Total utilization = Sum over all ui.

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Aperiodic and Sporadic Tasks
A periodic or Sporadic task is a stream of
aperiodic or sporadic jobs.
Jobs with a task have similar statistical
behavior and timing requirements
Assumed system is stationary within the
hyperperiod
Aperiodic: jobs have soft or no deadlines.
Want responsiveness.
Sporadic: jobs have hard deadlines
Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems
Precedence Constraints and Task Graphs
Jobs are either precedence constrained or
independent.
Precedence relation: partial ordering operator <
Ji < Jk : Ji is predecessor of Jk, Jk is successor of Ji
directed graph G = (J,<)
Task graph is an extended precedence graph.

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Functional Parameters
Preemptivity
Preemption: suspend job then dispatch different job to
processor. Cost includes context switch overhead.
Non-preemptable task - must be run from start to completion.
Criticalness - positive integer indicating the relative
importance of a job. Useful during overload.
Optional Executions - jobs or portions of jobs may be
declared optional. Useful during overload.
Laxity - Laxity type => hard or soft timing constraints.
Supplemented by a usefulness function. Useful during
overload.
Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems
 Resource Parameters
Job resource parameters indicate processor
and resource requirements.
Preemptivity of resources
non-preemptive: serial access, typical case.
preemptive - jobs can interleave access.
Resource Graph:
vertex for processors (Pi) and resources (Ri)
is-a-part-of edge: Ri -> Rk, Rk is a part of Ri
accessibility edge: Pi -> Pk, cost of Pi accessing
Pk

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Schedules and Scheduling
Jobs scheduled and allocated resources based on a set of
scheduling algorithms and access control protocols.
Scheduler: Module implementing scheduling algorithms
Schedule: assignment of all jobs to available processors,
produced by scheduler.
Valid schedule:
every processor assigned to at most one job at a time
every job assigned to at most one processor at a time
no job scheduled before its release time
Total amount of processor time assigned to every job is equal to
its maximum or actual execution time

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Definitions
Feasible schedule: Every job starts at or after release
time and completes by deadline
Schedulable: set of jobs schedulable according to an
algorithm if the it always produces a feasible schedule.
Optimal: Scheduling algorithm optimal if it always
produces a feasible schedule if such a schedule exists
Tardiness: Zero if completion time <= deadline,
otherwise > 0 (complete - deadline).
Lateness: difference between completion time and
deadline, can be negative if early.

Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems

 Performance Measures
Miss rate: percentage of jobs executed but
completed late
Loss rate: percentage of jobs discarded
Invalid rate: sum of miss and loss rate.
makespan : If all jobs have same release time
and deadline, then makespan = response time
of the last job to execute.
Max or average response times
Max or average tardiness/lateness
Fred Kuhns () CS523S: Operating Systems