Reducing the gap between design and scheduling

Abstract

Model-based design techniques for real-time systems have limited real-time expressiveness, focusing their abilities to classic scheduling models (like the classic sporadic model) and to a reduced set of temporal analysis techniques (like the Rate Monotonic Analysis). Moreover, to perform analysis with the real-time scheduling theory, the system designers must check that their models are compliant with the assumptions of this theory. This article introduces an open meta-model, based on model-driven engineering, which aims to cover new real-time scheduling models and techniques. Therefore, it will be possible to connect several independent schedulability analysis tools, following closely the advances in real-time scheduling theory, dealing with a temporal model that will be covered by our meta-model. This connection can be done at different stages of the design (early for sensitivity analysis, at a later stage for temporal validation) to create a temporal model of the designed system, and to assist the designer who is not necessarily an expert in scheduling theory. This paper can be considered as an attempt to motivate the real-time community to have a taxonomy of real-time scheduling models, problems and analysis techniques.