RTAS’24 invites papers that describe case studies, applications, methodologies, and algorithms contributing to the state of practice in the design, implementation, verification, validation, and evolution of time-sensitive systems. That’s where Nils Asmussen, Sebastian Haas, Adam Lackorzyński, and Michael Roitzsch presented their paper, “Core-Local Reasoning and Predictable Cross-Core Communication with M³.”
Their research addresses the need for security, heterogeneity, and real-time operation in modern cyber-physical systems. While traditional real-time operating systems like FreeRTOS offer high predictability, they lack the strong component isolation necessary for platform security. Conversely, microkernels provide this isolation but complicate real-time analysis due to their use of virtual memory and privileged CPU modes.
The team introduces an alternative approach with M³, a hardware/software co-design for heterogeneous systems that ensures strong isolation between cores. The real-time capabilities of M³ had not been explored until now. To address this, researchers assessed M³’s current real-time capabilities, comparing its communication latencies with other systems and examining its unique core isolation approach.
To enhance M³’s suitability for real-time applications, they introduced network-on-chip traffic regulation and enforced resource limits. These improvements allow for local reasoning about application execution, making M³ more effective for real-time tasks.
Their evaluation, conducted using an FPGA-based hardware prototype and simulations based on gem5, demonstrates the potential of M³ to meet the demands of secure and predictable real-time systems.
The full paper is available here.
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