Knowledge-Based assistance for real-time systems

This paper describes a tool called the Real-Time Scheduling Assistant (RTSA) that provides automated assistance in the areas of selection, evaluation, and implementation of scheduling algorithms for complex real-time systems. In RTSA, design elements relevant to real-time scheduling, including task set and processor characteristics, are specified using a graphical user interface. The tool´s quantitative evaluation component provides a range of algorithms for analysis of the performance characteristics of systems and scheduling policies under consideration. The RTSA knowledge base contains real-time scheduling expertise that is encoded in the form of production rules, and applied using a forward chaining inference engine. Advice on multiple scheduling algorithms is offered at three levels: conceptual, analysis, and implementation