Real-time systems play a crucial role in our society since an increasing number of complex systems rely, in part or completely, on processor control. Examples of real-time applications include automotive electronics, air traffic control, and railway switching systems, nuclear power plants, telecommunications, and robotics. In spite of this large application domain, most of the current real-time systems are still designed and implemented using low-level programming and empirical techniques. This approach results in a lack of reliability, which in critical applications may cause serious environmental damage or even loss of
life.
This course will first give an introduction into the basic concepts of real-time computing and then treat the two major issues real-time scheduling and real-time kernels. Real-time scheduling will concentrate on predictable scheduling algorithms and provide the scientific methodology required for the design of real-time systems. Real-time kernels will address the challenges and issues in the design and implementation of real-time operating systems.