A LEGO Mindstorms NXT approach for teaching at Data Acquisition, Control Systems Engineering and Real-Time Systems undergraduate courses

Abstract The article presents the formulation of the problem of optimizing the structure of multiprocessor computing systems designed to solve control problems in real time. The features of this problem, which influence the choice of optimization methods, have been studied. It is concluded that this problem can be effectively solved using evolutionary methods of optimization. The considered models for finding performance can be used to optimize the architecture of multiprocessor computing systems. Besides, it should be taken into account that the resources allocated for the development and operation of computing systems are always limited. Therefore, it is advisable to consider the problem of optimizing the structure of a computing system as multi-criterial one: one criterion is the performance, and the other one is the cost of development and operation of the system. Acquired results can be used in development of multiprocessor computing systems for real-time systems, which is going to reduce the cost of development and operation of these control systems.

Download Full-text

Reconfiguration of Synchronous Real-Time Operating System

International Journal of System Dynamics Applications ◽

10.4018/ijsda.2013010106 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 114-132 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Hamza Gharsellaoui ◽

Mohamed Khalgui ◽

Samir Ben Ahmed

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

Systems Engineering ◽

Scheduling Algorithm ◽

User Requirements ◽

Real Time Systems ◽

Real Time Scheduling ◽

Temporal Properties ◽

Time Scheduling ◽

Run Time ◽

Time Systems

Real-time scheduling is the theoretical basis of real-time systems engineering. Earliest Deadline first (EDF) is an optimal scheduling algorithm for uniprocessor real-time systems. The paper deals with Reconfigurable Uniprocessor embedded Real-Time Systems classically implemented by different OS tasks that the authors suppose independent, synchronous and periodic to meet functional and temporal properties described in user requirements. They define two forms of automatic reconfigurations which are applied at run-time: Addition-Remove of tasks or just modifications of their temporal parameters: WCET and/or Periods. The authors define a new semantic of the reconfiguration where a crucial criterion to consider is the automatic improvement of the system’s feasibility at run-time by using an Intelligent Agent that automatically checks the system’s feasibility after any reconfiguration scenario to verify if all tasks meet the required deadlines. To handle all possible reconfiguration solutions, the authors propose an agent-based architecture that applies automatic reconfigurations to re-obtain the system’s feasibility and satisfy user requirements. Therefore, they developed the tool RT-Reconfiguration to support these contributions that they apply on the running example system and the authors apply the Real-Time Simulator, Cheddar to check the whole system behavior and evaluate the performance of the algorithm. They present simulations of this architecture where the agent that implemented is evaluated.

Download Full-text