Real-Time CPU Scheduling

1 min read Updated Fri Apr 24 2026 03:19:45 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Systems that require results within deadlines. Focuses on deadlines, latency, and periodic tasks. Scheduler must support preemptive, priority-based scheduling.

Safety-Critical System

A real-time system with catastrophic results in case of failure.

Periodic Real-Time Task

Each task has:

  • Processing time tt
  • Deadline dd
  • Period pp
  • Must satisfy: 0tdp0 \le t \le d \le p
  • Rate = 1/p1/p

Types

Hard Real-Time

Where deadlines must never be missed. Single missed deadline implies system failure. Scheduler must have the ability to meet deadlines.

Soft Real-Time

Where deadlines are important but not critical. Occasional misses are acceptable.

Algorithms

Rate Monotonic Scheduling

Aka. RMS. Priority = inverse of period.

Works only if CPU load is below schedulable limit. Can still miss deadlines.

Earliest Deadline First

Aka. EDF. Earlier deadline means higher priority.

Proportional-Share Scheduling

System has total TT shares. Each task gets NN shares. Each task is ensured to get N/TN/T fraction of CPU time.