On the Scalability of Time-predictable Chip-Multiprocessing

Real-time systems need a time-predictable execution platform to be able to determine the worst-case execution time statically. In order to be time-predictable, several advanced processor features, such as out-of-order execution and other forms of speculation, have to be avoided. However, just using simple processors is not an option for embedded systems with high demands on computing power. In order to provide high performance and predictability we argue to use multiprocessor systems with a time-predictable memory interface. In this paper we present the scalability of a Java chip-multiprocessor system that is designed to be time-predictable. Adding time-predictable caches is mandatory to achieve scalability with a shared memory multi-processor system. As Java bytecode retains information about the nature of memory accesses, it is possible to implement a memory hierarchy that takes the characteristics of different types of accesses into account. For tasks with low communication the measured speedup of this time-predictable system is in the range of 6 to 7 for eight processor cores, compared to execution on a single-core processor.