Introduction to Real Time

Systems
Lecture 1
Real-Time Systems
Oscar Acevedo, PhD
2P15

Real-Time Applications
Control
The controller must do this
periodically:
Read (sample) sensor
Compute control law
Output result through D/A
The sampling period critically
defines de controller behavior

Real-Time Applications
Car cruise control
Cruise control video
Control speed and distance from car in front
Driver can adjust setup values at any time

Real-Time Applications
Signal processing
Video capture
Digital filtering
Video and voice (de)compression
Radar signal processing

Other Real-Time Applications

Real-time databases
Stock market
Airline reservations
There is a deadline for these transactions to
complete

Multimedia
Steady rates for processing audio and video
30 fps for tv
16 Kbps for telephone audio

What is a Real Time System?

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

Concepts and Definitions

Job: each unit of work that is scheduled and
executed by the system
Control law computation
FFT computation
Packet transmission

Task: a set of related jobs which jointly provide

some system function

Concepts and Definitions

A job executes or is executed by the (operating)
system
Every job executes on some resource
Cpu
Network

Processor: a resource that actually executes the

job

Some Job Parameters

Release time: instant of time at which the job
becomes available for execution
A job can be scheduled and executed at any
time at or after its release time
Data and control dependencies conditions are met

Deadline: the instant of time by which its

execution is required to be completed

Some Job Parameters

Response time: the length of time from the
release time of the job to the instant when it
completes

Relative deadline: the maximum allowable

response time of a job
Timing constraint: a constraint imposed on the
timing behavior of a job

Some Job Parameters

Response Time

Deadline

Job is released
3

Execution starts

Execution ends

10

Hard Timing Constraint

The timing constraint of a job is hard if the
user requires the validation that the system
always meet the timing constraint

Validation: a demonstration by a provably

correct, efficient procedure or by exhaustive
simulation and testing

Soft Timing Constraint

No validation is required, or only a
demonstration that the job meet some
statistical constraint suffices

The satisfaction of statistical constraints can

usually be demonstrated with a performance
profile
the average number of missed deadlines per
minute is two or less

More Concepts
Hard real time systems: it is absolutely
imperative that responses occur within the
required deadline
Flight control systems

Soft real-time systems: deadlines are

important but which will still function
correctly if deadlines are occasionally missed
Video streaming

Characteristics of Real Time Systems

Event-driven, reactive
High cost of failure
Concurrency/multiprogramming
Stand-alone/continuous operation
Reliability/fault-tolerance requirements
Predictable behavior

Embedded vs Real Time Systems

Embedded system: is a computer system that
performs a limited set of specific functions. It
often interacts with its environment.

RTS: Correctness of the system depends not

only on the logical results, but also on the
time in which the results are produced.

Some Examples

Real Time Embedded:

Real Time, but not Embedded:

Nuclear reactor control

Flight control
Basically any safety critical system
GPS
MP3 player
Mobile phone

Stock trading system

Skype
Pandora

Embedded, but not Real Time:

Home temperature control

Sprinkler system
Washing machine, refrigerator, etc.
Blood pressure meter