Date of Award

2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Gul N. Khan

Abstract

This thesis presents the methods for automating the synthesis of multiprocessor real-time embedded systems. It describes an evolutionary technique of finding an affordable architecture for a multi-mode multi-task system while meeting the real-time constraints imposed by designers. First the synthesis problem is introduced and previous co-synthesis approaches to handle this problem are discussed. Then the description of the proposed co-synthesis framework for real time systems is presented. The co-synthesis framework consists of four main steps, namely processing element allocation, process assignment, scheduling and evaluation. The method determines a set of feasible solutions with optimized partitioning and real-time schedules for processes and data communication. The framework is capable of producing acceptable solutions for critical systems with hard real-time deadlines by employing process level prioritization and by meeting the process level deadlines. Moreover, the proposed scheduling methodology achieves better PE utilization as compared to the conventional non-preemptive scheduling technique. The co-synthesis method is demonstrated by applying it to examples from the literature and to industrial benchmarks, such as auto industry, telecommunication, networking and office automation.