Hardware Scheduler for Real-Time Systems

In multi-tasking systems the scheduler controls the task execution. Usually the scheduler, is implemented in software as a part of the operating system. Thus computation time is inherently consumed and, therefore, less time for applications is available. This is even more evident, if real-time systems are considered, because in a real-time system there must be a guarantee that all critical tasks meet their deadline, otherwise the system fails. The aim of this project is to support the scheduler by migrating scheduling functions to hardware. The result will be a processor comprising these scheduling functions. A real-time scheduling algorithm from the class of priority pre-emptive scheduling algorithms is chosen to be implemented in hardware.