Toward the Predictable Integration of Real-Time Embedded Systems

Marco Caccamo, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL

Abstract: Integration of COTS components in critical real-time systems is challenging. In particular, we show that the interference between cache activity and I/O traffic generated by COTS peripherals can unpredictably slow down a real-time task by up to 44%. To solve this issue, we propose a framework comprised of 1) an analytical technique that computes safe bounds on the I/O-induced task delay; 2) a coscheduling algorithm that maximizes the amount of allowed peripheral traffic while guaranteeing all real-time task constraints. The talk will also address integration challenges in real-time embedded systems that support run-time partial reconfiguration. In particular, a hardware/software coscheduling framework is presented that allows real-time reconfiguration, and the seamless execution of real-timetasks either in hardware or software subject to the physical constraints of a modern FPGA (such as the Xilinx Virtex family of FPGAs).

About the speaker: Marco Caccamo received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in 2002. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research interests include real-time operating systems, real-time scheduling and resource management, wireless real-time networks, and quality of service control in next generation digital infrastructures. He has published over 50 papers and received the US National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2003.