How to Build a Timely Computing Base using Real-Time Linux

António Casimiro and Pedro Martins and Paulo Veríssimo

Selected sections of this report will be published in the Proceedings of the 2000 IEEE International Workshop on Factory Communication Systems, Porto, Portugal, September 2000


Abstract

In a recent paper we introduced a new model to deal with the problem of handling application timeliness requirements in environments with loose real-time guarantees. This model, called the Timely Computing Base (TCB), is one of partial synchrony. From an engineering point of view, it requires systems to be constructed with a small control part, a TCB module, to protect vital resources with respect to timeliness and to provide basic time related services to applications. Although many different instantiations of systems with a TCB can be envisaged, we have chosen to implement a TCB using PC hardware running the Real-Time Linux operating system over a Fast-Ethernet network. This paper describes the experience gained during the implementation process and shows that it is possible to construct a TCB without the need for special software or hardware components. The problem of achieving real-time communication under RT-Linux is also discussed: we describe the port we have done of a Linux network driver to RT-Linux, explaining the required modifications to allow predictability.


BibTeX

@inproceedings{Verissimo:00a,
author = "Casimiro, A. and Martins, P. and Ver\'{\i}ssimo, P.",
title = "How to Build a Timely Computing Base using Real-Time Linux",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2000 IEEE International Workshop on Factory Communication Systems",
year = "2000",
abstractURL = "http://www.di.fc.ul.pt/~casim/papers/wfcs00/wfcs00.html",
documentURL = "http://www.di.fc.ul.pt/~casim/papers/wfcs00/wfcs00.ps.gz",
pages = "127--1343",
publisher = "IEEE Industrial Electronics Society",
address = "Porto, Portugal",
month = sep
}


Extended report

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