Component-oriented radars with probabilistic timing guarantees

In recent years, many modern phased-array radars are built with commercial off-the-shelf components, and the functions of many hardware components are also reimplemented by software modules. In such systems, radar tasks could be modeled as distributed real-time tasks which require end-to-end deadline guarantees and have precedence constraints. Different from most previous work on either algorithms with restrictions in resource utilization or heuristics without analytical ways for schedulability guarantees, the objective of this paper is to propose a joint real-time scheduling algorithm for both transmitter/receiver and signal processor workloads with an analytical framework for offline probabilistic analysis and online admission control. The strength of our approach is verified by analysis results and a series of experiments based on a real phased-array radar for air defense frigates.     

Cache-Conscious Limited Preemptive Scheduling

In multi-tasking real-time systems, inter-task cache interference due to preemptions degrades schedulability as well as performance. To address this problem, we propose a novel scheduling scheme, called limited preemptive scheduling (LPS), that limits preemptions to execution points with small cache-related preemption costs. Limiting preemptions decreases the cache-related preemption costs of tasks but increases blocking delay of higher priority tasks. The proposed scheme makes an optimal trade-off between these two factors to maximize the schedulability of a given task set while minimizing cache-related preemption delay of tasks. Experimental results show that the LPS scheme improves the maximum schedulable utilization by up to 40\% compared with the traditional fully preemptive scheduling (FPS) scheme. The results also show that up to 20\% of processor time is saved by the LPS scheme due to reduction in the cache-related preemption costs. Finally, the results show that both the improvement of schedulability and the saving of processor time by the LPS scheme increase as the speed gap between the processor and main memory widens.     

An efficient dynamic scheduling algorithm for multiprocessorreal-time systems

Many time-critical applications require predictable performance and tasks in these applications have deadlines to be met. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm for nonpreemptive scheduling of dynamically arriving real-time tasks (aperiodic tasks) in multiprocessor systems. A real-time task is characterized by its deadline, resource requirements, and worst case computation time on p processors, where p is the degree of parallelization of the task. We use this parallelism in tasks to meet their deadlines and, thus, obtain better schedulability compared to nonparallelizable task scheduling algorithms. To study the effectiveness of the proposed scheduling algorithm, we have conducted extensive simulation studies and compared its performance with the myopic scheduling algorithm. The simulation studies show that the schedulability of the proposed algorithm is always higher than that of the myopic algorithm for a wide variety of task parameters     

Energy-efficient scheduling of real-time tasks with shared resources

This paper explores the energy-efficient scheduling of real-time tasks on a non-ideal DVS processor in the presence of resource sharing. We assume that tasks are periodic, preemptive and may access to shared resources. When dynamic-priority and fixed-priority scheduling are considered, we use the earliest deadline first (EDF) algorithm and the rate monotonic (RM) algorithm to schedule the given set of tasks. Based on the stack resource policy (SRP), we propose an approach, called blocking-aware two-speed (BATS) algorithm, to synchronize the tasks with shared resources and to calculate appropriate execution speeds so that the shared resources can be accessed in a mutual exclusive manner and the energy consumption can be reduced. Particularly, BATS uses a static low speed to execute tasks initially, and then it switches to a high speed dynamically whenever a task blocks a higher priority task. More specifically, the processor runs at the high speed from the beginning of the blocking until the deadline of the blocked task or the processor becomes idle. In order to guarantee that the deadlines of tasks are met, the static low speed and the dynamic high speeds are derived based on the theoretical analysis of the schedulability of tasks. Compared with existing work, BATS achieves more energy saving because its dynamic high speeds are lower than that of existing work and the processor has less chance to execute tasks at the high speeds. The schedulability analysis and the properties of our proposed BATS are provided in this paper. We also evaluated the capabilities of BATS by a series of experiments, for which we have some encouraging results.     

Scheduling of hard real-time multi-phase multi-thread (MPMT) periodic tasks

In this paper we study the scheduling of parallel and real-time recurrent tasks on multiprocessor platforms. Firstly, we propose a new parallel task model which allows recurrent tasks to be composed of several phases, each one composed of several threads. Each thread requires a single processor for execution and can be scheduled simultaneously. We then propose an algorithm to transpose popular Fork-Join task model to our MPMT task model. Secondly, we define several kinds of real-time schedulers that can be applied to our parallel task model. We distinguish between two scheduling classes: Hierarchical schedulers and Global Thread schedulers. We present and prove correct an exact schedulability test for each class. Lastly, we also evaluate the performance of our scheduling paradigm in comparison with Gang scheduling by means of simulations. In this work we extend the work of Lupu and Goossens in Scheduling of hard real-time multi-thread periodic tasks (Real-Time and Network Systems, 2011) which considers mono-phase multi-thread task model. We extend their previous results to a Multi-Phase Multi-Thread task model.     

Rolling-horizon scheduling for energy constrained distributed real-time embedded systems

Energy-efficient scheduling approaches are critical to battery driven real-time embedded systems. Traditional energy-aware scheduling schemes are mainly based on the individual task scheduling. Consequently, the scheduling space for each task is small, and the schedulability and energy saving are very limited, especially when the system is heavily loaded. To remedy this problem, we propose a novel rolling-horizon (RH) strategy that can be applied to any scheduling algorithm to improve schedulability. In addition, we develop a new energy-efficient adaptive scheduling algorithm (EASA) that can adaptively adjust supply voltages according to the system workload for energy efficiency. Both the RH strategy and EASA algorithm are combined to form our scheduling approach, RH-EASA. Experimental results show that in comparison with some typical traditional scheduling schemes, RH-EASA can achieve significant energy savings while meeting most task deadlines (namely, high schedulability) for distributed real-time embedded systems with dynamic workloads.     

Utilization Bounds for N-Processor Rate Monotone Scheduling with Static Processor Assignment

We consider the schedulability of a set of independent periodic tasks under fixed priority preemptive scheduling on homogeneous multiprocessor systems. Assuming there is no task migration between processors and each processor schedules tasks preemptively according to fixed priorities assigned by the Rate Monotonic policy, the scheduling problem reduces to assigning the set of tasks to disjoint processors in such a way that the Monotonic policy, the scheduling problem reduces to assigning the set of tasks to disjoint processors in such a way that the schedulability of the tasks on each processor can be guaranteed. In this paper we show that the worst case achievable utilization for such systems is between n(2^1/2-1) and (n+1)/(1+2^1/(n+1)), where n stands for the number of processors. The lower bound represents 41 percent of the total system capacity and the upper bound represents 50 to 66 percent depending on n. Practicality of the lower bound is demonstrated by proving it can be achieved using a First Fit scheduling algorithm.     

一种新的异构实时分布式系统的容错调度算法

一般来说,异构分布式实时系统中任务的周期并不完全相同且任务的时限不等于它们的周期,同时系统中还有一些无容错需求的任务.因此现有的任务调度算法一般不能满足这些要求.针对这类系统,在结合基版本/副版本技术和EDF算法的基础上,给出了一种新的容错调度算法.该算法由两部分组成：任务分配调度算法和单处理器调度算法.对于单处理器调度算法,本文采用了EDF算法;在此基础上,给出一种启发式静态任务分配算法.分析了系统的可调度性,给出了任务可调度条件和基版本/副版本时限的设置方法.仿真结果表明,这种算法是有效的.     

端到端时间约束的实时任务动态调度算法

在单处理机系统中,由于计算高优先级任务抢占的时间相对比较简单,所以单处理机调度理论取得了长足的进步.提出一个端到端时间约束的实时任务调度算法,当实时任务到达系统时,算法为任务的每个子任务在相应的处理机上预约一定的计算资源,把端到端的多处理机调度问题转换成单处理机调度问题,从而可以利用单处理机调度理论判定实时任务的可调度性.实验表明,该算法明显地提高了CPU利用率和任务接收率.     

Integrated dynamic scheduling of hard and QoS degradable real-time tasks in multiprocessor systems

Many time-critical applications require predictable performance and tasks in these applications have deadlines to be met. For tasks with hard deadlines, a deadline miss can be catastrophic while for Quality of Service (QoS) degradable tasks (soft real-time tasks) timely approximate results of poorer quality or occasional deadline misses are acceptable. Imprecise computation and (m,k)-firm guarantee are two workload models that quantify the trade-off between schedulability and result quality. In this paper, we propose dynamic scheduling algorithms for integrated scheduling of real-time tasks, represented by these workload models, in multiprocessor systems. The algorithms aim at improving the schedulability of tasks by exploiting the properties of these models in QoS degradation. We also show how the proposed algorithms can be adapted for integrated scheduling of multimedia streams and hard real-time tasks, and demonstrate their effectiveness in quantifying QoS degradation. Through simulation, we evaluate the performance of these algorithms using the metrics – success ratio (measure of schedulability) and quality. Our simulation results show that one of the proposed algorithms, multilevel degradation algorithm, outperforms the others in terms of both the performance metrics.     

Exploiting Redundancies to Enhance Schedulability in Fault-Tolerant and Real-Time Distributed Systems

In the past decades, distributed systems have been widely applied to real-time applications, most of which have fault-tolerance requirements to assure high reliability. Due to the stringent space constraints of real-time systems, the issue of schedulability becomes a major concern in the design of fault-tolerant and real-time distributed systems. Most existing real-time and fault-tolerant scheduling algorithms, which are based on the primary-backup scheme for periodic real-time tasks, introduce unnecessary redundancies by aggressively using active-backup copies. To solve this problem, we propose two novel fault-tolerant techniques, which are seamlessly integrated with fixed-priority-based scheduling algorithms. These techniques leverage redundancies to enhance schedulability in fault-tolerant and real-time distributed systems. Our fault-tolerant techniques make use of the primary-backup scheme to tolerate permanent hardware failures. The first technique (referred to as Tercos) terminates the execution of active-backup copies, when corresponding primary copies are successfully completed. Tercos is designed to reduce scheduling lengths in fault-free scenarios to enhance schedulability by virtue of executing portions of active-backup copies in passive forms. The second technique (referred to as Debus) uses a deferred-active-backup scheme to further minimize schedule lengths to improve the schedulability performance. Debus schedules active-backup copies as late as possible, while terminating active-backup copies when their primary copies are completed. Experimental results show that, compared with existing algorithms in literature, Tercos can significantly improve schedulability by up to 17.0% (with an average of 9.7%). Furthermore, empirical results reveal that Debus can enhance schedulability over Tercos by up to 12% (with an average of 7.8%).     

Feasibility analysis of real-time transactions

The objective of this paper is two-fold: give a survey of response time analysis (RTA), and contribute to schedulability analysis for the real-time transaction model. The RTA is studied under fixed priority policies (FPP), while schedulability analysis assumes an optimal scheduling algorithm (like the deadline driven scheduling algorithm EDF) in a preemptive context on uniprocessor systems. We compare the transaction model to the family of multiframe models, then present the exact, and approximated methods, as well as a tunable method to compute the RTA. Finally we present a new schedulability analysis method and an efficient algorithm to speed up this test.     

Energy-aware mixed partitioning scheduling in standby-sparing systems

Previous standby-sparing techniques assume that all tasks don't access to shared resources. In addition, primary tasks and backup tasks are allocated to the primary processor and spare processor respectively. Spare processor schedules tasks with maximum processor speed. Unlike previous techniques, we have studied the problem of minimizing energy consumption and preserving the original reliability for dynamic-priority real-time task set with shared resources in a standby-sparing system. We propose a novel energy-aware mixed partitioning scheduling algorithm (EAMPSA). Earliest deadline first/dynamic deadline modification (EDF/DDM) scheduling scheme is used to ensure that the shared resources can be accessed in a mutual exclusive manner. Uniformly speed is used to the primary processor and the spare processor. In addition, we use the mixed mapping partitioning of primary and backup tasks method to map tasks. A novel method of mapping task is proposed i.e. the tasks which need to access to shared resources are mapped into the primary processor and the tasks which have no resource requirements are mapped into the spare processor. Furthermore, DVS and DPM techniques are used for both primary and backup tasks to save energy. The experimental results show that the EAMPSA algorithm consumes average 55.43% less energy than that of the SSPT algorithm.     

面向分布式实时系统的安全驱动调度算法研究

针对现有实时调度算法无法适应动态安全需求的问题,构建了一种安全驱动调度模型,该模型从系统安全级别、系统安全服务和任务安全策略三个方面描述了实时系统的动态安全需求,并设计了一种基于安全驱动的实时任务调度器框架。以该模型和框架为基础,提出了一种安全驱动调度算法(Security Driven Scheduling Algorithm,SDSA)。从全局角度对新到达任务进行可调度性检查,并将可调度任务分配到合适的处理机上运行。按照系统安全级别来动态调整已分配到各处理机上实时任务的安全策略,使其达到安全性和可调度性的最优平衡。采用优先级抢占式策略对各实时任务进行调度。仿真结果表明,SDSA算法与其他同类算法相比,在系统动态安全需求的适应性、关键任务的可调度性以及安全防危能力等方面具有较好的表现。     

云环境下周期和非周期混合实时任务双容错调度算法

云环境中的处理机故障已成为云计算不可忽视的问题,容错成为设计和发展云计算系统的关键需求。针对一些容错调度算法在任务调度过程中调度效率低下以及任务类型单一的问题,提出一种处理机和任务主副版本分组的容错调度方法;并给出了副版本可重叠执行的判定方法,以及任务最坏响应时间的计算公式。通过实验和分析表明,和以前算法相比,将处理机分成两组分别执行任务主版本和任务副版本,减少了任务调度所需进行可调度测试的时间,增加了副版本重叠执行的机会,减少了所需的处理机个数,对提高系统处理机的利用率和容错调度的效率具有重要的意义。     

A New Approach for Scheduling of Parallelizable Tasks in Real-Time Multiprocessor Systems

In a parallelizable task model, a task can be parallelized and the component tasks can be executed concurrently on multiple processors. We use this parallelism in tasks to meet their deadlines and also obtain better processor utilisation compared to non-parallelized tasks. Non-preemptive parallelizable task scheduling combines the advantages of higher schedulability and lower scheduling overhead offered by the preemptive and non-preemptive task scheduling models, respectively. We propose a new approach to maximize the benefits from task parallelization. It involves checking the schedulability of periodic tasks (if necessary, by parallelizing them) off-line and run-time scheduling of the schedulable periodic tasks together with dynamically arriving aperiodic tasks. To avoid the run-time anomaly that may occur when the actual computation time of a task is less than its worst case computation time, we propose efficient run-time mechanisms.We have carried out extensive simulation to study the effectiveness of the proposed approach by comparing the schedulability offered by it with that of dynamic scheduling using Earliest Deadline First (EDF), and by comparing its storage efficiency with that of the static table-driven approach. We found that the schedulability offered by parallelizable task scheduling is always higher than that of the EDF algorithm for a wide variety of task parameters and the storage overhead incurred by it is less than 3.6% of the static table-driven approach even under heavy task loads.     

异构分布式系统混合型实时容错调度算法

基/副版本技术是实现实时分布式系统容错的一个重要手段。提出了一种异构分布式混合型容错模型,该模型与传统的异构分布式实时调度模型相比同时考虑了周期和非周期调度任务。在此基础上给出3种容错调度算法:以可调度性为目的SSA算法、以可靠性为目的RSA算法、以负载均衡性为目的BSA算法。算法能够在异构系统中同时调度具有周期和非周期容错需求的实时任务,且能够保证在异构系统中某节点机失效情况下,实时任务仍然能在截止时间内完成。最后从可调度性、可靠性代价、负载均衡性、周期与非周期任务数及任务周期与粒度J个方面对算法进行了分析。模拟实验结果显示算法各有优缺点,所以在选择调度算法时应该根据异构系统的特点来选择。     

分布式控制系统中多种混合任务的容错调度

分布式控制系统中存在有强实时、软实时和非实时等多种实时性的任务,其中强实时任务必须在其时限前完成,否则会出现灾难性后果,因此必须为分布式控制系统提供一定的容错能力。首先给出了用于调度多种实时性任务的单处理器调度算法——双优先级队列调度算法,并分析算法的可调度性条件。针对分布式控制系统,考虑基版本与副版本的执行时间不同时,结合版本复制技术和单处理器调度算法提出了一种新的容错调度算法。分析了算法的可调度行,给出了可任务集的可调度条件判断方法和基版本任务时限的设置方法。在此基础上,采用启发式静态任务分配算法,保证各处理器的负载均衡。本算法在保证任务容错可调度的条件下,可提高系统中各处理器的利用率,仿真结果表明该算法是有效的。     

基于EDF调度策略的端到端实时系统可调度性分析算法

端到端实时任务调度模型可用于描述许多分布式实时系统.提出一种基于EDF调度策略的端到端实时任务调度模型,给出了端到端实时系统的可调度性判定条件,并提出其可调度性分析算法,该可调度性判定条件及可调度性分析算法适用于采用非连续工作型同步协议和连续工作型同步协议控制下的端到端实时系统.与固定优先级的端到端实时任务调度模型及其算法相比,基于EDF调度策略的端到端实时任务调度模型和算法更加简单和易于实现,仿真结果也表明具有较高的性能.     

基于EDF的分布式控制系统容错调度算法

现有的分布式实时系统的容错调度算法要求系统中所有任务的周期相同且等于其时限,而实际中任务的周期常常是互不相同的.根据控制系统中任务的特点,结合任务分配算法与处理器的调度算法,提出了基于基版本/副版本技术和EDF算法的容错调度算法.该算法不要求任务的周期都相同,并通过设置基版本/副版本任务时限控制它们的执行时间不重叠,给出了基版本/副版本任务时限的设置方法,并对任务集的可调度性进行了分析.当任务集可调度时,给出其最大利用率和最小处理器个数的约束条件.最后给出一个仿真实例,结果表明了算法的有效性.