Profiling of the Lab VIEW Development Environment and Real-Time Module

This paper describes a model that was created to assist in determining if a given application can be scheduled such that all hard real-time deadlines are met. The model was used to profile programs generated by the Lab VIEW development environment with the additional Real-Time module. Information on the overhead of the real-time operating system (RTOS) was gathered. Using this information, an application can be analyzed to determine if all threads will meet their deadlines. The analysis of the underlying assumptions that were made in the model will also be discussed. The model can play an important role in estimating the degree of determinism needed by real-time control software, particularly when the hardware is sensitive and most of the program is based on high-level tools such as Lab VIEW. A robot joint control system has been taken as an example; however, the approach is generic and applicable to other applications.