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USENIX 2002 Annual Technical Conference Paper    [USENIX 2002 Technical Program Index]

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Pp. 303-316 of the Proceedings

Improving Wait-Free Algorithms for Interprocess Communication in Embedded Real-Time Systems 1

Hai Huang, Padmanabhan Pillai, and Kang G. Shin
Real-Time Computing Laboratory
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2122
{haih,pillai,kgshin}@eecs.umich.edu

Abstract:

Concurrency management is a basic requirement for interprocess communication in any multitasking system. This usually takes the form of lock-based or other blocking algorithms. In real-time and/or time-sensitive systems, the less-predictable timing behavior of lock-based mechanisms and the additional task-execution dependency make synchronization undesirable. Recent research has provided non-blocking and wait-free algorithms for interprocess communication, particularly in the domain of single-writer, multiple-reader semantics, but these algorithms typically incur high costs in terms of computation or space complexity, or both. In this paper, we propose a general transformation mechanism that takes advantage of temporal characteristics of the system to reduce both time and space overheads of current single-writer, multiple-reader algorithms. We show a 17-66% execution time reduction along with a 14-70% memory space reduction when three wait-free algorithms are improved by applying our transformation. We present three new algorithms for wait-free, single-writer, multiple-reader communication along with detailed performance evaluation of nine algorithms under various experimental conditions.




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hai huang 2002-03-30

This paper was originally published in the Proceedings of the 2002 USENIX Annual Technical Conference, June 10-15, 2002, Monterey Conference Center, Monterey, California, USA.
Last changed: 16 May 2002 ml
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