Resource management for enhancing predictability in systems with limited processing capabilities

There is an increasing demand for computing systems composed by heterogeneous computers, connected by different types of networks, and that allow for accessing a wide range of services in a seamless way. Some of those computers are mobile or embedded and have limited resources, and can be overloaded when trying to handle their users demands. Then it is not possible to ensure a proper behaviour of the running applications. This can be an important problem when dealing with critical events in healthcare, home surveillance, or forest monitoring. Resource reservation is a valid basis for handling this issue. It allows for guaranteeing a certain resource share for applications that are important for the proper behavior of a given system. This paper describes an implementation of a resource management component and its integration in the Linux kernel. This piece of software has allowed to assign CPU budgets to standard Java threads, which is an important facility, given the widespread of this programming language. This implementation has been validated on service oriented middleware, where relevant services are executed by thread with guaranteed budget, to improve its predictability.