Outline of Course

1.

Introduction - 2 lectures

• examples of applications
• important characteristics of these applications
• what is a real-time system and definitions
• what isn't a real-time system
• common misconceptions
• overview of science of real-time systems and examples of research problems
• real-time clocks

2.

Equipment Description and Labs - 2 lectures

• development versus target systems (architecture, debugging)
• VME bus, powerPC microprocessors, VxWorks
• sensors, actuators, I/O

3.

Real-Time Scheduling - 7 lectures

• classification of the problem and metrics
• classical scheduling results (Jackson's rule, Smith's rule, Moore's rule, McNaughton's theorem, Mok's theorem, concept of competitiveness and bounds analysis; NP-hardness; implications of classical scheduling results for real-time computing)
• off-line scheduling for static real-time systems; rate monotonic analysis
• priority inheritance and priority ceiling
• on-line (ED and RM algorithms and their extensions)
• multiprocessor scheduling (RM and Spring algorithm; Richard's anomalies)
• overload and resource reclaiming
• imprecise computation

4.

Real-Time Kernels - 2 lectures

• commercial proprietary kernels - VxWorks and VRTX32
• RT-UNIX and RT-MACH

5.

Real-Time Multiprocessor Kernels - 5 lectures

• process (and thread) management, memory management, IPC, implementation issues for scheduling, shared segments, distributed shared memory; other multiprocessor support;
• multiprocessor architectures, real-time architecture issues
• data acquisition and control (I/O)

6.

Real-Time Programming Languages - 2 lectures

• concepts and examples from various languages including RT-Euclid, Flex, Pearl, ADA, RT-Concurrent C and Spring C, but focus is on RT-Concurrent C
• RT-Java

7.

System Integration - 1 lecture

• using Spring SDL; Spring C; Spring Kernel and SpringNet

8.

Ubiquitous/Pervasive Computing - 5 lectures

• Introduction
  • definitions and issues
  • DSPs, consumer electronics
  • smart spaces, Internet appliances

• Mobile and Wireless Networking
  • wireless LAN, Bluetooth, PCS

• Component Based Real-Time OS
  • what is a component
  • application to embedded systems
  • example component based RTOS - a case study
  • tools for design and analysis

• Middleware - Jini
  • discovery and lookup
  • leasing
  • distributed events and notifications

• Embedded Databases and Real-Time Databases