Introduction to real-time systems
1. What is a Real-Time System?
2. Structure of real-time systems
3. Real- Time System Examples
4. Some definitions
5. Real time system classification
6. Real time system characteristics
Real time systems- Dr. Eng Mohssen Abboud 1
Introduction to RTS
?What is a Real-Time System
• Consider a system in which data need to be
processed at a regular and timely rate.
• For example, an aircraft uses a sequence of
accelerometer pulses to determine its position
• an over temperature failure in a nuclear plant.
• In some sense it is understood that these
events require real-time processing.
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Introduction to RTS
?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.
failure to respond is as bad as the wrong response!
Real time systems- Dr. Eng Mohssen Abboud 3
Introduction to RTS
?What is a Real-Time System
• Real-time systems defined as those systems
that respond to external events in a timely
fashion, as shown in the Figure1
Real time systems- Dr. Eng Mohssen Abboud 4
Introduction to RTS
?What is a Real-Time System
• External events can have synchronous or
asynchronous characteristics
• Responding to external events includes
recognizing when an event occurs, performing
the required processing as a result of the event,
and outputting the necessary results within a
given time constraint
• Timing constraints include finish time, or both
start time and finish time.
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Introduction to RTS
?What is a Real-Time System
• The environment of the real-time system creates the
external events
• These events are received by one or more components
of the real-time system
• The response of the real-time system is then injected
into its environment through one or more of its
components
• Decomposition of the real-time system, as shown in
Figure 1, leads to the general structure of real-time
systems.
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Introduction to RTS
Structure of real-time systems
• The structure of a real-time system, as shown
in the Figure2 , is a controlling system and at
least one controlled system and environment.
– Controlling system: acquires information about
environment using sensors and controls the environment
with actuators.
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Introduction to RTS
Structure of real-time systems
• The external environment and the computing systems are
connected through sensors, actuators, and other input-output
interfaces
Sensor Sensor Sensor Sensor Sensor Sensor
Real-time
control system
Actuator Actuator Actuator Actuator
• Timing constraints derived from physical
impact of controlling systems activities.
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Introduction to RTS
Structure of real-time systems
• The controlling system interacts with the controlled
system in various ways
• First, the interaction can be periodic, in which
communication is initiated from the controlling system
to the controlled system
In this case, the communication is predictable and occurs at predefined intervals.
• Second, the interaction can be aperiodic, in which
communication is initiated from the controlled system
to the controlling system.
In this case, the communication is unpredictable and is determined by the random occurrences of
external events in the environment of the controlled system.
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Introduction to RTS
Structure of real-time systems
• The controlling system interacts with the
controlled system in various ways:
• Finally, the communication can be a
combination of both types
• The controlling system must process and
respond to the events and information
generated by the controlled system in a
guaranteed time frame.
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Introduction to RTS
Structure of real-time systems
Example car driver
• Mission: Reaching the destination safely.
• Controlled System: Car.
• Operating environment: Road conditions.
• Controlling System
- Human driver: Sensors - Eyes and Ears of the driver.
- Computer: Sensors - Cameras, Infrared receiver, and Laser telemeter.
• Controls: Accelerator, Steering wheel, Break-pedal.
• Actuators: Wheels, Engines, and Brakes.
Introduction to RTS
Events
• Real-Time systems must respond to events.
– Periodic events
– Nonperiodic events
• aperiodic events
– unbounded arrival frequency
• sporadic events
– bounded arrival frequency
• Events can be external or internal.
• Each event requires a certain amount of processing
and has a certain deadline.
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Introduction to RTS
Events
• RTS driven by events : the RTS react according
to the pre-establish state.
– detecting change in patient’s condition.
• RTS driven by the time .the RTS react on
regular period or deadline defined by the
internal system time.
- monitoring temperature of a patient.
• The RTS qualified reactive IF it must interact
(response) to an event with a given time.
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Introduction to RTS
Real- Time System Examples
• A real-time system has to react to events as they occur, at their speed; the
environment dictates the speed and cannot be slowed down. Fast, or
timely on average behavior is not acceptable; rather the worst case
situation has to be handled.
– Compare to crossing a river: not the average depth determines safe passage, but the
deepest one.
• With real-time systems, the prime goal is not to achieve fast computing, it
is to achieve timely computing. In some cases, the system must wait until
it responds, as in the airbag example below.
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Introduction to RTS
Real- Time System Examples
– Vehicle systems for automobiles, aircraft, railways, …
– Traffic control for airspace, …
– Process control for power plants, chemical plants, …
– Medical systems for radiation therapy, patient monitoring, …
– Military uses (firing weapons, tracking, …)
– Telephone, radio and satellite communications
– Computer games, multimedia systems (audio, video interfaces)
– Building managers that control such entities as heat, light, doors,
elevators
–…
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Introduction to RTS
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.
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Introduction to RTS
Time constraint
• The most common and simple assertion is the
deadline
A limit on time when a computation must complete
• e.g. in a robot control system, there may be a
deadline or a limit between the time that a
moving robot senses an obstruction in its path
and the time that an actuator, such as a wheel
controller, is activated to move the robot in a
safer direction
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Introduction to RTS
Time constraint
• Deadline: we call a deadline the real time
constraint where an event will produced at
the latest.
– Hard Deadline.
– Soft Deadline.
Delay
(critic)
task
Deadline
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Introduction to RTS
Time constraint
• Hard deadline : when event arrived after a
missed deadline, an exception will be
launched
• Soft deadline : when a waited event arrived
after a missed deadline, no exception to
launch.
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Introduction to RTS
Real time system classification
• A hard real-time system is a system where it is
absolutely imperative that the responses occur within
the required deadline.
– ex. heart pacemakers
– ex. Plan control system
• If a constraint is violated, the system fails
– E.g. the controller of the vertical motion of an
elevator
• Missing a particular timing constraint could mean that
the elevator stops between two floors
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Introduction to RTS
Real time system classification
• A soft real-time system is a system where
deadlines are important but where the system still
functions if the deadlines are occasionally missed
– ex. Video distribution System (streaming)
• they may be considered successful, that is,
perform their mission, despite missing some
timing constraints
– E.g. a telephone system that sometime fails to
make a connection (the sender just dials again)
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Introduction to RTS
Hard versus Soft
• Hard: failure to meet constraint is a fatal fault. Validation
system always meets timing constraints.
– Deterministic constraints
• 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
• Common misconception:
– real-time high-speed computations
• not true execute at a speed that makes it possible to fulfill the timing requirements
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Introduction to RTS
Real time system characteristics
• Determinism (Deterministic)
– Deadline and other assertions involving time are
expressed in terms of exact or fixed values, rather
than aggregate measures such as averages
– Failure to meet deterministic guarantees often
means mission failure (especially for hard real-time
systems)
E.g. the railway crossing gate on a road must always
be closed by the time a train reaching the crossing,
not closed “most of the time”
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Introduction to RTS
Real time system characteristics
• Predictability
– the capacity to determine the operation time to realized.
– The more common aspects are schedulability and memory
• Reliability
– Is a measure of how often a system will fail
– Alternatively, it is the probability that a system will perform
correctly over a given period of time
• Fault tolerance
– Is concerned with the recognition and handling of failures
– Avoid failure is possible through techniques for reliability
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