An “always on” interface for remote monitoring and configuration is a key requirement for many industrial control systems. Unfortunately as complexity and code size grows, the probability that task starvation and other defects will make their way into final product also grows, ultimately making remote interfaces unresponsive or unusable. The cost of resolving such problems after a system has been deployed can be high — not only in terms of troubleshooting but also in damage to the vendor’s reputation.
Designers and developers of industrial automation systems must therefore employ every tool and methodology at their disposal to ensure their code is correct and properly tested. The real challenge, however, is in finding and implementing techniques that consume a minimum of development effort and computing resources.
Properly implemented, time partitioning is such a solution. This paper explores how designers and developers can partition CPU resources to allocate a guaranteed minimum percentage of time to each software subsystem regardless of system load, making each subsystem (including remote interfaces) continuously available.
What attendees will learn...
This technical whitepaper will give readers a good understanding of how to use time partitioning to:
- better manage complex integration scenarios
- balance processing time between a number of software processes
- avoid task starvation
- prevent malware or denial of service attacks from monopolizing the CPU
- create systems that are both well-integrated and always accessible
