Computing and IT in the Workplace

CT006-1

Real-time Systems
 Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section, YOU should be able to:

Explain the important concepts in Real-time Computing

specifically on dependability, fault tolerance and fault
types.

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 Topics we will cover

• Real-time systems
• Dependability
• Fault Tolerance
• Fault types

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 Real-time Systems - Introduction

Defined as systems where the correctness of

the system depends not only on the logical
result of computation, but also on the
time at which the results are produced

Real-time systems are classified as being

1. Hard Real-time System
2. Firm Real-time System
3. Soft Real-time System
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 Hard Real-time systems

• No deadline misses are tolerated

• Hardware/software must operate within the
confines of a stringent deadline.
• Application fails if it does not complete its
function within the allotted time
Example: a) Aircraft control systems - A single
flight error might be fatal b) Missile delivery
system c) components of pacemakers d) car air
bags and e) robots - a robot performs tasks, if it
encounters an obstacle, it must avoid it else it will
collide with it, thus failing its task
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 Firm Real-time Systems

• Allows occasional deadline misses but discards tasks

that are not finished by their deadlines
• If the task does not complete within the deadline, the
system does NOT fail, late results are discarded

Example: a) Timetable Scheduling

b) Satellite-Based Tracking of Enemy Movements -
takes images of the enemy, beams it to the ground
station. If ground station is overloaded, a new image
may be received before an older image. Hence, the
older image is not of much a use and is discarded. The
recently received image will be used and processed
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 Soft Real-time Systems

• If a task is not completed by its deadline, the

task is considered of a lesser value and is degraded.

Examples
a) Multimedia applications
b) Airline reservation system since a missed booking is
rarely catastrophic
c) Video on demand
d) Web browsing i.e. after the URL is clicked, the
display of the web page may be delayed. The
system has not failed but merely expressed as a
degradation of the performance
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 Hard RTS

• Zero Utility value after deadline

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 Soft RTS

• Decreasing Utility value after deadline

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 Non–RTS

• Utility value remains constant

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 Dependable Systems?
• A system is dependable when it is trustworthy
enough that reliance can be placed on the service that it
delivers. For a system to be dependable, it must have
the following attributes
1. Available - ready for use when needed 100%
uptime.
2. Reliable - able to provide continuity of service
while using it – does not crash
3. Safe - does not have a catastrophic consequence
on the environment, health
4. Secure - able to preserve confidentiality - safe
from hackers/crackers
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 Why dependability?
• In safety-critical applications - such as flight
control, medical life support (medical
equipment), telecommunication switching, and
on-line transaction processing systems -
failure of computing resources can cost lives
and/or money.
• Telecommunication – the transmission of signals over
a distance for the purpose of communication.
• Switching - The equipment & techniques for enabling
any station in a communications system to be
connected with any other station
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 Availability
• Availability is a measure of the delivery of proper
service with respect to the alternation of proper and
improper service. In other words, it is the probability
of being operational at a given instant of time.
• A 0.999999 availability means that the system is not
operational at most one hour in a million hours.
• Soft real-time systems such as telephone switching
and airline reservation require high availability.
• Most RTS adopt a 24x7 availability

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 Reliability

• Hard real-time systems such as flight control and

process control demand high reliability, in which a
failure could mean the loss of life.
• Continuity of correct service. The reliability of a
system is the probability that the system works
• Highly reliable systems are used in situations in which
repair cannot take place (e.g. spacecraft) or in which
the computer is performing a critical function for which
even the small amount of time lost due to repairs
cannot be tolerated (e.g. flight-control computers).

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Safe

• Absence of catastrophes for users and

environment
• Many process control systems, such as
those used for chemical plants, sending
people into space or for controlling nuclear
power plants, are required to provide a
high degree of safety.
• Example: Space shuttle Challenger that
exploded in 1986, losing 8 astronauts lives
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Secure

• Confidentiality
• Integrity
– consistency of actions for example the
access level must be complied with
• Security

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 Food for thought

• Question: can a system be

– highly available but unreliable?
– highly reliable but unavailable?

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 What is a Fault

• An error is the part of a system’s total state

that may lead to a failure
• A failure occurs when the error causes the
delivered service to deviate from correct
service eg Database errors
• The cause of the error is called a fault
Fault  Error  Failure
Example: Program error
√ New Balance = Current balance – Withdrawal Amount
X New Balance = Current balance – New Balance
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Fault Tolerance (Robustness)
• A system built with fault tolerance
capabilities will keep operating perhaps at a
degraded level, in the presence of faults.
• Fault-tolerance is defined as the ability of a
system to deliver the expected service even in
the presence of faults e.g. Hard-disk failure
• For a system to be fault-tolerant, it must be able
to detect, diagnose and recover from faults.
• High Availability : Always Available (100%)
• Fault Tolerant : Not Always Available (manual
action may be required)
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 Fault types
1. Permanent faults - caused by device failures
in a component due to damage or improper
manufacturing. Once a permanent fault has occurred,
the faulty component can be restored by replacement or
repair. It remains until repaired
2. Transient faults - triggered by environmental
disturbances eg voltage fluctuations, electro-magnetic
interference or radiation. These events have a short
duration, returning the affected circuitry to a normal
operating state without causing any lasting damage.
– exists and then disappears
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 Fault types

3. Intermittent faults - due to design errors that

result in marginal or unstable hardware.
Example: fault due to a loose wire.
– Repeatedly and disappears in between
4. Software faults - caused by
incorrect design, or coding of
a program. Bugs.

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Error Recovery
• Process by which the system attempts to
recover from the effects of an error
1. Forward error recovery
Error masked without computations re-done
Example - In data transmission the receiver detects a
number of errors that may occur anywhere in the
message and corrects the errors without
retransmission
2. Backward error recovery
System rolled back to a state before the error is
believed to have occurred and computation is carried
out again
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 Embedded Systems

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 RTS Application

Driving a Car
• Critical tasks (Hard): Steering and breaking
• Immediate tasks (Firm): Lights, signal lights,
wiper
• Non-critical tasks (Soft): Turning on radio

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 Review Questions

Explain the important concepts in Real-time

Computing specifically on dependability, fault
tolerance and fault types.

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 Question and Answer Session

Q&A

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What we will cover next

Artificial Intelligence

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