Training Real-time Linux: Real-time Linux with RT-Preempt patch and Xenomai

D4Real-time Linux
Real-time Linux with RT-Preempt patch and Xenomai
Objectives
  • Understand Real-Time programming
  • Discover the various solutions under Linux
    • The Preempt_RT patch
    • Xenomai
    • Real-Time drivers and networking with Xenomai
    • Programming with Xenomai
Labs are conducted on the PC or on ARM-based target boards (Quad Cortex-A9 Sabrelite boards from NXP)
We use the latest available kernel supported by Xenomai
  • Theoretical course
    • PDF course material (in English) supplemented by a printed version for face-to-face courses.
    • Online courses are dispensed using the Teams video-conferencing system.
    • The trainer answers trainees' questions during the training and provide technical and pedagogical assistance.
  • Practical activities
    • Practical activities represent from 40% to 50% of course duration.
    • Code examples, exercises and solutions
    • For remote trainings:
      • One Online Linux PC per trainee for the practical activities.
      • The trainer has access to trainees' Online PCs for technical and pedagogical assistance.
      • QEMU Emulated board or physical board connected to the online PC (depending on the course).
      • Some Labs may be completed between sessions and are checked by the trainer on the next session.
    • For face-to-face trainings:
      • One PC (Linux ou Windows) for the practical activities with, if appropriate, a target board.
      • One PC for two trainees when there are more than 6 trainees.
    • For onsite trainings:
      • An installation and test manual is provided to allow preinstallation of the needed software.
      • The trainer come with target boards if needed during the practical activities (and bring them back at the end of the course).
  • Downloadable preconfigured virtual machine for post-course practical activities
  • At the start of each session the trainer will interact with the trainees to ensure the course fits their expectations and correct if needed
  • Any embedded systems engineer or technician with the above prerequisites.
  • The prerequisites indicated above are assessed before the training by the technical supervision of the traineein his company, or by the trainee himself in the exceptional case of an individual trainee.
  • Trainee progress is assessed in two different ways, depending on the course:
    • For courses lending themselves to practical exercises, the results of the exercises are checked by the trainer while, if necessary, helping trainees to carry them out by providing additional details.
    • Quizzes are offered at the end of sections that do not include practical exercises to verifythat the trainees have assimilated the points presented
  • At the end of the training, each trainee receives a certificate attesting that they have successfully completed the course.
    • In the event of a problem, discovered during the course, due to a lack of prerequisites by the trainee a different or additional training is offered to them, generally to reinforce their prerequisites,in agreement with their company manager if applicable.

Course Outline

  • Linux
    • History
    • Version management
  • The various licenses used by Linux (GPL, LGPL, etc)
  • Linux distributions
  • Linux architecture and modularity
Exercise:  Boot Linux automatically starting a user application
  • Linux kernel parameters
  • The Linux startup sequence
  • Various initialization systems (busybox init, system V init, systemd)
  • Automatically starting an embedded system
Exercise:  Boot Linux automatically starting a user application
  • Downloading stable source code
    • Getting a tarball
    • Using GIT
  • Configuring the kernel
  • Compiling the kernel and its modules
    • The Linux build system
    • Modules delivered in-tree
    • Out-of-tree modules
  • Installing the kernel and the modules
  • The Linux Device Tree
Exercise:  Configuring and compiling a target kernel for the target board
  • Scheduling
  • Threads
    • Definition of a thread
    • POSIX threads
  • Synchronization and communication primitives
    • Mutexes and Condition Variables
    • Barriers
    • Semaphores
    • Message queues
  • Thread-specific Data
Exercise:  Implement a multi-threaded server
  • Classic real-time problems
    • Dead-Locks
    • Live-Locks
    • Priority Inversion
Exercise:  Solve the Readers-Writer problem
  • The Kernel tracing infrastructure
    • Tracepoints
    • The ftrace function tracer
    • Kprobes
    • Event tracers
  • Performance monitoring in the Linux kernel
    • Perfcounters
    • Perf events
  • Debugging the kernel using traces
  • LTTng
Exercise:  Trace context switches and measure latency times
Exercise:  Use LTTng to trace multi-task context switches
  • The specificities of Real-Time
  • Why Linux is not Real-Time
  • Configuration Options in Vanilla Kernel
  • The Preempt_RT patch
  • The co-kernel approach
Exercise:  Install Preempt_RT and check the effect on latencies
  • Architecture
    • Adeos
    • Skins
    • Shadow Threads and Scheduling Domains
  • Xenomai Schedulers
    • The Real-Time class schedulers
    • The Weak class schedulers
  • Configuring Xenomai
Exercise:  Install Xenomai
Exercise:  Cross-compile an application for Xenomai
  • The Xenomai Skins
    • POSIX
    • RTDM
  • Specificities of the POSIX skin
  • Programming RTDM drivers
    • Creating a kernel module
    • Integration in the Linux Device Model
  • Xenomai traces
  • Porting to Xenomai
Exercise:  Identify and Debug Spurious Relax problems
Exercise:  Port an application on Xenomai and test real-time characteristics
Exercise:  Write a simple RTDM driver
  • Overview of RTNet
    • Architecture
    • Non-determinism of Ethernet
    • Time Division Multiple Access
  • Configuration
  • Network Programming with RTNet
Exercise:  Add RTNet support to the Xenomai kernel
Exercise:  Test using udp client and server
Duration
4 days
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Scheduled classes are confirmed as soon as there is two confirmed bookings. Bookings are accepted until 1 week before the course start.

Last update of course schedule: 15 November 2022

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