Real-time Performance of Real-time Mechanisms for RTAI and Xenomai in Various Running Conditions

For a real-time system, the system correctness depends not only on the correctness of the logical result of the computation but also on the result delivery time. Real-time Operating System (RTOS) is widely accepted in designing real-time systems. The real-time performance is achieved by using real-time mechanisms through data communication and synchronization of inter-task communication (ITC) between tasks. Therefore, benchmarking the response time of real-time mechanisms is a good measure to predict the performance of real-time systems. This paper aims to analyze the response characteristics of real-time mechanisms in kernel and user space for real-time embedded Linux: RTAI and Xenomai. The performance evaluations of real-time mechanisms depending on the changes of task periods and load are also conducted in kernel and user space. Test metrics are jitter of periodic tasks and response time of real-time mechanisms including semaphore, real-time FIFO, Mailbox and Message queue. The results are promising to estimate deterministic real-time task execution in implementing real-time systems using RTAI or Xenomai.

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