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A Real-Time Programmer's Tour of General-Purpose L4 Microkernels

Abstract

L4-embedded is a microkernel successfully deployed in mobile devices with soft real-time requirements. It now faces the challenges of tightly integrated systems, in which user interface, multimedia, OS, wireless protocols, and even software-defined radios must run on a single CPU. In this paper we discuss the pros and cons of L4-embedded for real-time systems design, focusing on the issues caused by the extreme speed optimisations it inherited from its general-purpose ancestors. Since these issues can be addressed with a minimal performance loss, we conclude that, overall, the design of real-time systems based on L4-embedded is possible, and facilitated by a number of design features unique to microkernels and the L4 family.

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Correspondence to Sergio Ruocco.

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Ruocco, S. A Real-Time Programmer's Tour of General-Purpose L4 Microkernels. J Embedded Systems 2008, 234710 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1155/2008/234710

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2008/234710

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