Design Optimization of Mixed-Criticality Real-Time Applications on Cost-Constrained Partitioned Architectures

Abstract—In this paper we are interested to implement mixed-criticality hard real-time applications on a given heterogeneous distributed architecture. Applications have different criticality levels, captured by their Safety-Integrity Level (SIL), and are scheduled using static-cyclic scheduling. Mixed-criticality tasks can be integrated onto the same architecture only if there is enough spatial and temporal separation among them. We consider that the separation is provided by partitioning, such that applications run in separate partitions, and each partition is allocated several time slots on a processor. Tasks of different SILs can share a partition only if they are all elevated to the highest SIL among them. Such elevation leads to increased development costs. We are interested to determine (i) the mapping of tasks to processors, (ii) the assignment of tasks to partitions, (iii) the sequence and size of the time slots on each processor and (iv) the schedule tables, such that all the applications are schedulable and the development costs are minimized. We have proposed a Tabu Search-based approach to solve this optimization problem. The proposed algorithm has been evaluated using several synthetic and real-life benchmarks. I

Schedulability Analysis for Certification-friendly Multicore Systems

This paper presents a new schedulability test for safety-critical software undergoing a transition from single-core to multicore systems - a challenge faced by multiple industries today. Our migration model, consisting of a schedulability test and execution model, is distinguished by three aspects consistent with reducing transition cost. First, it assumes externally-driven scheduling parameters, such as periods and deadlines, remain fixed (and thus known), whereas exact computation times are not. Second, it adopts a globally synchronized conflict-free I/O model that leads to a decoupling between cores, simplifying the schedulability analysis. Third, it employs global priority assignment across all tasks on each core, irrespective of application, where budget constraints on each application ensure isolation. These properties enable us to obtain a utilization bound that places an allowable limit on total task execution times. Evaluation results demonstrate the advantages of our scheduling model over competing resource partitioning approaches, such as Periodic Server and TDMA.Ope

Modular Avionics Software Integration on Multi-Core COTS : certification-Compliant Methodology and Timing Analysis Metrics for Legacy Software Reuse in Modern Aerospace Systems

Interference in multicores is undesirable for hard real-time systems and especially in the aerospace industry, for which it is mandatory to ensure beforehand timing predictability and deadlines enforcement in a system runtime behavior, in order to be granted acceptance by certification authorities. The goal of this thesis is to propose an approach for multi-core integration of legacy IMA software, without any hardware nor software modification, and which complies as much as possible to current, incremental certification and IMA key concepts such as robust time and space partitioning. The motivations of this thesis are to stick as much as possible to the current IMA software integration process in order to maximize the chances of acceptation by avionics industries of the contributions of this thesis, but also because the current process has long been proven efficient on aerospace systems currently in usage. Another motivation is to minimize the extra effort needed to provide certification authorities with timing-related verification information required when seeking approval. As a secondary goal depending on the possibilities, the contributions should offer design optimization features, and help reduce the time-to-market by automating some steps of the design and verification process. This thesis proposes two complete methodologies for IMA integration on multi-core COTS. Each of them offers different advantages and has different drawbacks, and therefore each of them may correspond to its own, complementary situations. One fits all avionics and certification requirements of incremental verification and robust partitioning and therefore fits up to DAL A applications, while the other offers maximum Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) optimization and fits either up to DAL C applications, multipartition applications or non-IMA applications. The methodologies are said to be "complete" because this thesis provides all necessary metrics to go through all steps of the software integration process. More specifically, this includes, for each strategy: - a static timing analysis for safely upper-bounding inter-core interference, and deriving the corresponding WCET upper-bounds for each task. - a Constraint Programming (CP) formulation for automated software/hardware allocation; the resulting allocation is correct by construction since the CP process embraces the proposed timing analysis mentioned earlier. - a CP formulation for automated schedule generation; the resulting schedule is correct by construction since the CP process embraces the proposed timing analysis mentioned earlier