Topic 6 (M 18) RTOS & Inter-process Communication

Transcription

1 Topic 6 (M 18) RTOS & Inter-process Communication 6.1 Concepts of RTOS, Need of RTOS in Embedded systems 6.2 Multitasking 6.3 Task synchronization & Mutual Exclusion 6.4 Starvation, Deadlock, Multiple process 6.5 Basics of Inter-process Communication Concepts of RTOS Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) is a multitasking operating system intended for real-time applications. WIKIPEDIA. RTOS is implemented in products all around us, ranging from military, and consumer to scientific applications. RTOS comprises of two components, namely, Real-Time and Operating System. Real-Time Real-Time indicates an expectant response or reaction to an event on the instant of its evolution. The expectant response depicts the logical correctness of the result produced. The instant of the events evolution depicts deadline for producing the result. Operating System Operating System (OS) is a system program that provides an interface between hardware and application programs. OS is commonly equipped with features like: Multitasking, Synchronization, Interrupt and Event Handling, Input/ Output, Inter-task Communication, Timers and Clocks and Memory Management to fulfill its primary role of managing the hardware resources to meet the demands of application programs. RTOS is therefore an operating system that supports real-time applications and embedded systems by providing logically correct result within the deadline required. Such capabilities define its deterministic timing behavior and limited resource utilization nature. Why RTOS for Real-Time Application RTOS is not a required component of all real-time application in embedded systems. An embedded system in a simple electronic rice cooker does not require RTOS.

2 But as the complexity of applications expands beyond simple tasks, benefits of having an RTOS far outweigh the associate costs. Embedded systems are becoming more complex hardware-wise with every generation. And as more features are put into them in each iteration, application programs running on the embedded system platforms will become increasingly complex to be managed as they strive to meet the system response requirements. An RTOS will be effective to allow the real-time applications to be designed and expanded more easily whilst meeting the performances required. Features of RTOS The design of an RTOS is essentially a balance between providing a reasonably rich feature set for application development and deployment and, not sacrificing predictability and timeliness. A basic RTOS will be equipped with the following features: i. Multitasking and Preemptibility An RTOS must be multi-tasked and preemptible to support multiple tasks in real-time applications. The scheduler should be able to preempt any task in the system and allocate the resource to the task that needs it most even at peak load. ii. Task Priority Preemption defines the capability to identify the task that needs a resource the most and allocates it the control to obtain the resource. In RTOS, such capability is achieved by assigning individual task with the appropriate priority level. Thus, it is important for RTOS to be equipped with this feature. iii. Reliable and Sufficient Inter Task Communication Mechanism For multiple tasks to communicate in a timely manner and to ensure data integrity among each other, reliable and sufficient inter-task communication and synchronization mechanisms are required. iv. Priority Inheritance To allow applications with stringent priority requirements to be implemented, RTOS must have a sufficient number of priority levels when using priority scheduling. v. Predefined Short Latencies An RTOS needs to have accurately defined short timing of its system calls. The behavior metrics are:

3 Task switching latency: The time needed to save the context of a currently executing task and switching to another task is desirable to be short. Interrupt latency: The time elapsed between execution of the last instruction of the interrupted task and the first instruction in the interrupt handler. Interrupt dispatch latency. The time from the last instruction in the interrupt handler to the next task scheduled to run. vi. Control of Memory Management To ensure predictable response to an interrupt, an RTOS should provide way for task to lock its code and data into real memory. Task Synchronization Synchronization is essential for tasks to share mutually exclusive resources (devices, buffers, etc) and/or allow multiple concurrent tasks to be executed (e.g. Task A needs a result from task B, so task A can only run till task B produces it). Task synchronization is achieved using two types of mechanisms; 1) Event Objects and 2) Semaphores. Event objects are used when task synchronization is required without resource sharing. They allow one or more tasks to keep waiting for a specified event to occur. An event object can exist in either of two states: triggered and non-triggered. An event object in a triggered state indicates that a waiting task may resume. In contrast, if the event object is in a nontriggered state, a waiting task will need to stay suspended. Deadlock: A deadlock, also called as deadly embrace, is a situation in which two threads are each unknowingly waiting for resource held by other. o Assume thread T1 has exclusive access to resource R1. othread T2

4 has exclusive access to resource R2. o If T1 needs exclusive access to R2 and T2 needs exclusive access to R1, o Neither thread can continue. othey are deadlocked. othe simplest way to avoid a deadlock is for threads to: Acquire all resources before proceeding Acquire the resources in the same order Release the resource in the revere order How to Prevent deadlock: Deadlock is the situation in which multiple concurrent threads of execution in a system are blocked permanently because of resources requirement that can never be satisfied. A typical real-time system has multiple types of resources and multiple concurrent threads of execution contending for these resources. Each thread of execution can acquire multiple resources of various types throughout its lifetime. Potential for deadlock exist in a system in which the underlying RTOS permits resources sharing among multiple threads of execution. Following is a deadlock situation between two tasks. Task Synchronization Synchronization is essential for tasks to share mutually exclusive resources (devices, buffers, etc) and/or allow multiple concurrent tasks to be executed (e.g. Task A needs a result from task B, so task A can only run till task B produces it). Task synchronization is achieved using two types of mechanisms: a) Event Objects b) Semaphores a) Event objects : Event objects are used when task synchronization is required without resource sharing. They allow one or more tasks to keep waiting for a specified event to occur. Event

5 object can exist either in triggered or non-triggered state. Triggered state indicates resumption of the task. b) b) Semaphores :A semaphore functions like a key that define whether a task has the access to the resource. A task gets an access to the resource when it acquires the semaphore. A semaphore has an associated resource count and a wait queue. The resource count indicates availability of resource. The wait queue manages the tasks waiting for resources from the semaphore. There are three types of semaphore: Binary Semaphores Counting Semaphores Mutually Exclusion(Mutex) Semaphores What is intertask communication Intertask/Inter process communication is the set of techniques for exchanging the data among multiple threads in one or more processes. Inter process communication techniques are divided into

6 methods for message passing, synchronization, shared memory and remote procedure calls. The method of IPC may vary based on bandwidth and latency of communication between the threads, and the type of data being communicated Methods are as follows: 1. Message Queue 2. Pipeline 3. Remote procedure call 4. Semaphore 5. Signal Starvation: Starvation: Starvation is a resource management problem where a process does not get the resources it needs for a long time because the resources are being allocated to other processes. Starvation generally occurs in a Priority based scheduling System. Where High Priority (Lower Number = Higher Priority) requests get processed first. Thus a request with least priority may never be processed. For example: Consider priority based scheduling with scheduling criteria as the shortest process first. In a ready queue where all the processes are waiting for CPU, shortest process will be selected first. If there is a continuous supply of shortest process then the longer process may never get scheduled on CPU which leads to its starvation. Multitasking concept in Real Time Operating System (RTOS): Multitasking is a concept of performing multiple tasks (also known as processes) over a certain period of time by executing them concurrently. Embedded system are generally specific but need to perform many task for same application let us consider example of grinding control machine A simple microcontroller program can only do one thing at a time. However, because it can do things very fast (millions of operations per second), it can be made to switch between tasks so fast that it gives an illusion of doing several things concurrently. The question is, how do you program it so it will divide its attention between multiple tasks, Round robin and round robin with interrupts are ways to achieves the multitasking Imagine now a program with 25 steps in the main function plus 5

7 sub-functions (heating water, updating the display, watching 3 push buttons). Suppose some of those sub-functions also contain a number of steps with delays. Very, very quickly the complexity of the program becomes quite impossible to untangle. Assignment 1. What is deadlock? How can it be prevented? 2. What is task synchronization? How is it achieved? 3. Explain the features of RTOS. State how it differs from general operating system 4. What is intertask communication? State various mechanisms to achieve it. 5. Describe starvation with example