A Configurable Hardware Scheduler for Real-Time Systems

Many real-time applications require a high-resolution time tick in order to work properly. However, supporting a high-resolution time tick imposes a very high overhead on the system. In addition, such systems may need to change scheduling discipline from time to time to satisfy some user requirements such as Quality of Service (QoS). The dynamic changing of the scheduling discipline is usually associated with delays during which some deadlines might be missed. In this paper, we present a configurable hardware scheduler architecture which minimizes the processor time wasted by the scheduler and time-tick processing. The hardware scheduler is flexible and provides three scheduling disciplines: priority-based, rate monotonic and earliest deadline first. The scheduler in hardware also provides accurate timing. The scheduling mode can be changed at runtime, providing support for a wide range of applications on the same device. The hardware scheduler is provided in the form of an Intellectu...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: ERSA
• Authors: Pramote Kuacharoen, Mohamed Shalan, Vincent John Mooney
• Keywords: ERSA 2003, ERSA 2007, Hardware Scheduler, Hardware Scheduler Architecture, Scheduling Disciplines