Quality of service scheduling in real-time systems

Abstract

In this paper, we deal with dynamic scheduling components integrating new Quality of Service (QoS) functionalities into a Linux-based real-time operating system. In our approach, periodic tasks allow occasional deadline violations within given bounds specified according to the Skip-Over task model. Hence, every task has a minimal QoS guarantee which is expressed by the ratio of periodic task instances which must complete before their deadline. The work stated here provides two on-line scheduling algorithms, namely RLP and RLP/T, which enhance the existing Skip-Over algorithms. More specifically, the proposed algorithms aim at improving the actual QoS observed for periodic tasks (which is always greater or equal to the QoS guarantee). These novel scheduling techniques rely on the EDL (Earliest Deadline as Late as possible) scheduling strategy. Simulation results show the performance of RLP and RLP/T with respect to basic Skip-Over algorithms. Finally, we present the integration of these QoS scheduling services into CLEOPATRE open-source component library, a patch to Linux/RTAI. Copyright © 2006-2008 by CCC Publications.