Assistant Professor, SIUC

Spring 2010   

This course will introduce concepts involved in real-time and embedded computing systems that have several applications ranging from cell-phones and PDAs to avionics and space explorers. Theory of schedulability for real-time systems will be discussed in the context of static and dynamic-priority scheduling algorithms. Concepts involved in the design, implementation and verification of real-time systems will be discussed keeping with past and current research trends in the field. Assignments and class projects will be designed to provide theoretical and practical knowledge of real-time/embedded systems.

This class prepares you to understand advanced research issues in real-time systems. You will be introduced to schedulability theory, resource handling, timing analysis, real-time operating systems, real-time system design, embedded architectures, soft real-time systems, power-awareness, distributed real-time systems and sensor networks. The material will cover numerous research papers besides the textbook. Current research will be presented by students and discussed to give a better understanding of open issues in real-time systems. By the end of the course, you should be able to do the following things:

• Schedulability: To analyze the feasibility of a set of independent tasks; to explain resource policies for dependent tasks; to derive schedules; to simulate executions; to critique different implementation choices.
• Timing Analysis: To differentiate between various timing analysis techniques; to be aware of the challenges and the impact of timing assessment in real-time systems; to explain the merrits and the analytical methodology of static/analytical approaches; to understand the complementary nature of dynamic/experimental approaches.
• Systems design, implementation and analysis: To recite required real-time services for operating systems; to design, implement and evaluate such services; to comprehend formal methods design approaches and utilize design tools; to formally model real-time systems; to understand the limits of formal designs on one side and non-formal approaches on the other side;
• Soft real-time: To identify problems as hard vs. soft RT; to model quality-of-service properties in system design; to derive predicatbility guaratees under QoS assumptions; to design and implement middleware protocols in support of soft RT.
• Power-Aware Systems: To characterize the impact of power consumption on embedded resources; to identify systems level in support of energy conservation; to design and implement protocols that preserve power; to evaluate such systems; to criticize trends in voltage scaling and leakage.

Real-Time Systems by Jane W. S. Liu, Prentice-Hall.