An increasing number of distributed real-time systems face the critical challenge of providing end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees in open and unpredictable environments. In particular, such systems often need to guarantee the CPU utilization on multiple processors in order to achieve overload protection and meet end-to-end deadlines while task execution times are unpredictable. While the recently developed feedback control real-time scheduling algorithms have shown promise, they cannot handle the common end-to-end task model in distributed systems where each task is comprised of a chain of subtasks distributed on multiple processors. This paper presents the End-to-end Utilization CONtrol (EUCON) algorithm that features a distributed feedback loop that dynamically enforces desired CPU utilization bounds on multiple processors based on online performance measurements EUCON is based on a model predictive control approach that models the utilization control problem on a distributed platform as a multi-variable constrained optimization problem. A multi-input-multi-output model predictive controller is designed based on a difference equation model that describes the dynamic behavior of distributed real-time systems. Both control theoretic analysis and simulations demonstrate that EUCON can provide robust utilization guarantees even when task execution times deviate from the estimation or vary significantly at run-time. Index terms—real-time and embedded systems, feedback control real-time scheduling, distributed systems, end-to-end task, Quality of Service

This paper presents the design and implementation of an adaptive architecture to provide relative, absolute and hybrid service delay guarantees for different service classes on web servers under HTTP 1.1. The first contribution of this paper is the architecture based on feedback control loops that enforce delay guarantees for classes via dynamic connection scheduling and process reallocation. The second contribution is our use of feedback control theory to design the feedback loop with proven performance guarantees. In contrast with ad hoc approaches that often rely on laborious tuning and design iterations, our control theory approach enables us to systematically design an adaptive web server with established analytical methods. The design methodology includes using system identification to establish dynamic models for a web server, and using the Root Locus method to design feedback controllers to satisfy performance specifications. The adaptive architecture has been implemented by modifying an Apache web server. Experimental results demonstrate that our adaptive server provides robust delay guarantees even when workload varies significantly. Properties of our adaptive web server also include guaranteed stability, and satisfactory efficiency and accuracy in achieving desired delay or delay differentiation. 1.

This paper presents an architecture for quality of service (QoS) control of time-sensitive applications in multi-programmed embedded systems. In such systems, tasks must receive appropriate timeliness guarantees from the operating system independently from one another; otherwise, the QoS experienced by the users may decrease. Moreover, fluctuations in time of the workloads make a static partitioning of the central processing unit (CPU) that is neither appropriate nor convenient, whereas an adaptive allocation based on an on-line monitoring of the application behaviour leads to an optimum design. By combining a resource reservation scheduler and a feedback-based mechanism, we allow applications to meet their QoS requirements with the minimum possible impact on CPU occupation. We implemented the framework in AQuoSA (Adaptive Quality of Service Architecture (AQuoSA).

Abstract—Many real-time systems must control their CPU utilizations in order to meet end-to-end deadlines and prevent overload. Utilization control is particularly challenging in distributed real-time systems with highly unpredictable workloads and a large number of end-to-end tasks and processors. This paper presents the Decentralized End-to-end Utilization CONtrol (DEUCON) algorithm, which can dynamically enforce the desired utilizations on multiple processors in such systems. In contrast to centralized control schemes adopted in earlier works, DEUCON features a novel decentralized control structure that requires only localized coordination among neighbor processors. DEUCON is systematically designed based on recent advances in distributed model predictive control theory. Both control-theoretic analysis and simulations show that DEUCON can provide robust utilization guarantees and maintain global system stability despite severe variations in task execution times. Furthermore, DEUCON can effectively distribute the computation and communication cost to different processors and tolerate considerable communication delay between local controllers. Our results indicate that DEUCON can provide a scalable and robust utilization control for large-scale distributed real-time systems executing in unpredictable environments. Index Terms—Real-time and embedded systems, feedback control real-time scheduling, distributed systems, end-to-end task, decentralized model predictive control. 1

Existing real-time ORB middleware standards such as RT-CORBA do not adequately address the challenges of 1) providing robust performance guarantees portably across different platforms, and 2) managing unpredictable workload. To overcome this limitation, we have developed software called FCS/nORB that integrates a Feedback Control real-time Scheduling (FCS) service with the nORB small-footprint realtime ORB designed for networked embedded systems. FCS/nORB features feedback control loops that provide real-time performance guarantees by automatically adjusting the rate of remote method invocations transparently to an application. FCS/nORB thus enables real-time applications to be truly portable in terms of real-time performance as well as functionality, without the need for hand tuning. This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of FCS/nORB. Our extensive experiments on a Linux testbed demonstrate that FCS can provide deadline miss ratio and utilization guarantees in face of changes in the platform and task execution times, while introducing a small amount of overhead.

Many real-world distributed, real-time, embedded (DRE) systems, such as multi-agent military applications, are built using commercially available operating systems, middleware, and collections of pre-existing software. The complexity of these systems makes it difficult to ensure that they maintain high quality of service (QOS). At design time, the challenge is to introduce coordinated QOS controls into multiple software elements in a non-invasive manner. At run time, the system must adapt dynamically to maintain high QOS in the face of both expected events, such as application mode changes, and unexpected events, such as resource demands from other applications. In this paper we describe...

In this paper we present results obtained in the context of Quality of Service (QoS) control for soft real-time applications. The discussion addresses the issue of dynamically adjusting the bandwidth for a set of periodic tasks, when a reservation-based (RB) CPU scheduling policy is used. RB techniques are particularly suitable for this kind of applications since they allow an accurate mathematical modelling of the dynamic evolution of the QoS experienced by tasks. Based on this model, a control policy guaranteeing specified QoS levels for different tasks is illustrated, along with necessary and sufficient conditions for its existence. Moreover, the problem of steering a task QoS back into its nominal level is tackled, in response to deviations due to temporary overload conditions. Simulation results are reported, for the purpose of validating the approach.

In this paper, we address the problem of adaptively reserving the CPU to concurrent soft real-time tasks, in order to meet target Quality of Service requirements. First, we present two new techniques inspired to the idea of stochastic control. Then, we present a flexible and modular software architecture suitable for adaptive scheduling, realised as a minimally invasive set of modifications to the Linux Kernel. Finally, we show experimental results that validate our approach and prove its effectiveness in the context of multimedia applications.

Feedback control real-time scheduling (FCS) aims at satisfying performance specifications of real-time systems based on adaptive resource management. Existing FCS algorithms often rely on the existence of continuous control variables in real-time systems. A number of real-time systems, however, support only a finite set of discrete configurations that limit the adaptation mechanisms. This paper presents Hybrid Supervisory Utilization CONtrol (HySUCON) for scheduling such real-time systems. HySUCON enforces processor utilization bounds by managing the switchings between the discrete configurations. Our approach is based on a best-first-search algorithm that is invoked only if reconfiguration is necessary. Theoretical analysis and simulations demonstrate that the approach leads to robust utilization bounds for varying execution times. Experimental results demonstrate the algorithm performance for a representative application scenario. 1.

With the recent development of kernel patches for implementing kernel preemptability and high-resolution timers and the acceptance of the rst patch in the 2.5 development branch, it is now possible to support real-time applications in Linux user-space. However, real-time applications must be ran using the POSIX xed priority scheduler, and we believe that this solution presents a number of problems. In our opinion, a workstation OS must support temporal protection among applications, so that users can access real-time scheduling facilities without the danger to starve the system. The Resource Reservation framework is a class of techniques that can be used for providing temporal protection among dierent real-time and non-real-time applications. Algorithms based on the Resource Reservation framework have been implemented in a number of Linux variants (the most notable is Linux/RK). In this work, we propose a novel implementation that diers from the previous ones in some fundamental points. Thanks to the particular reservation mechanism (the Constant Bandwidth Server - CBS) and to a careful design of our scheduling infrastructure, our scheduler can correctly cope with aperiodic task arrivals.