A Programmable Microkernel for Real-Time Systems

Abstract

We present a new software system architecture for the implementation of hard real-time applications. The core of the system is a microkernel whose reactivity (interrupt handling) and proactivity (task scheduling) are fully programmable. The microkernel, which we implemented on a Strong-ARM processor, consists of two interacting virtual machines a reactive E (Embedded) machine and a proactive S (Scheduling) machine. The system code that runs on the microkernel is partitioned into E and S code. E code manages the interaction of the system with the physical environment: the execution of E code is triggered by environment interrupts which signal external events such as the arrival of a message or sensor value, and it releases application tasks to the S machine. S code manages the interaction of the system with the processor: the execution of S code is triggered by hardware interrupts, which signal internal events such as the completion of a task or time slice, and it dispatches application tasks to the CPU, possibly preempting a running task. This partition of the system orthogonalizes the two main concerns of real-time implementations: E code refers to environment time and thus defines the reactivity of the system in a hardware- and scheduler-independent fashion; S code refers to CPU time and defines a system scheduler. If both time lines can be reconciled, then the code is called time safe violations of time safety are handled again in a programmable way, by run-time exceptions. The separation of E from S code permits the independent programming, verification optimization, composition, dynamic adaptation, and reuse of both reaction and scheduling mechanisms. Our measurements show that the system overhead is very acceptable generally in the 0.2-0.3% range.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2003
Accession Number
ADA603329

Entities

People

  • Christoph M. Kirsch
  • Marco A. Sanvido
  • Thomas Henzinger

Organizations

  • University of California, Berkeley

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Application Software
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Computing System Architectures
  • Engineering
  • Environment
  • Helicopters
  • Host Computers
  • Mobile Phones
  • Operating Systems
  • Optimization
  • Reactivities
  • Scheduling (Production)
  • System Software

Fields of Study

  • Computer science
  • Engineering

Readers

  • Chemistry (specifically Chemical Fluorescence)
  • Computer Science/Computer Engineering/Data Science/Digital Signal Processing.
  • Database Systems and Applications