This technical whitepaper by Kevin Dankwardt explains the fundamentals of real-time Linux system programming, creates a simple model that illustrates many of the key aspects of real-time system behavior, and explores important issues that impact real-time performance, including task scheduling, preemption in the kernel, interrupt disabling, priority inversion, use of existing kernel facilities, and… real-time device drivers. Dankwardt writes . . .

“A typical real-time application involves a task performing some operation within a deadline. For example: storing some data, or updating a display. The task often is designed to repeat such activities ad infinitum, beginning each iteration at the occurrence of a hardware interrupt. This interrupt may be caused by a human clicking a button, a temperature reading, data from a visual sensor, or innumerable other possibilities.”

“In this article, we'll discuss Linux, with respect to aiding such systems . . .”

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