Options for Ensuring Data Traffic Priorities and Responsiveness in an Embedded Virtualized Device: Embedded Virtualization and Intel® Virtualizationtm Technology

Embedded virtualization paired with multi-core CPUs is paving the way for the consolidation of multiple dissimilar workloads within a single embedded device. Products such as those found in industrial automation, medical imaging, and networking or telecom applications are enjoying the benefits of increased compute capacity and decreased power consumption offered by multi-core CPUs. A challenge that results from this consolidation is that products hosting multiple dissimilar workloads require new ways to accumulate content when connected to devices of dissimilar priorities. For example, the stream of information coming from an HMI terminal ought to be treated with different priority or latency than the stream of data that comes from remote position sensors. No longer can a single OS provide all necessary functionality; multiOS and OS separation are needed to build these products efficiently, and specific focus on the devices, and the priorities of the data generated by the devices contained within the equipment, is needed in order to maintain the required responsiveness of the product. The data destined to a real-time operating system needs to be directed and prioritized with strict adherence to latencies and real-time requirements while data destined to general purpose guests have comparatively relaxed processing requirements. Embedded virtualization, multi-core CPUs, and hardware features offered by Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT) provide device manufacturers opportunities and options to ensure that the varying priorities of device traffic are not compromised when moving to a virtualized platform. Intel® VT hardware features such as Intel VT-x, Intel VT-d, Intel VT-c, and SR-IOV are crucial steps forward in ensuring that the priorities of data traffic received from external devices are retained in products hosting multiple different workloads. Embedded virtualization and Intel® VT hardwareassist for virtualization allow vendors and developers to migrate existing designs to hardware offering these features. Migrating existing designs to new hardware platforms that support Intel® Virtualization Technology is a compelling objective, but detailed investigation is required to find the optimal configuration necessary to maintain overall product responsiveness. This paper offers insights on how to migrate existing designs to new hardware and add new and differentiating product functionality while resolving the challenges of enforcing device responsiveness by leveraging embedded virtualization, multi-OS separation and device partitioning. Multiple Operating Systems on a Single Multi-core Device: Many embedded systems today use multiple operating systems on different processor boards, each offering services uniquely hosted by that operating system. Embedded virtualization offers developers the opportunity to consolidate hardware by running multiple OSes in partitions on a single CPU. Running multiple OSes on a single embedded multicore device allows developers to take full advantage of the unique benefits of more than one individual operating system. For example, they are no longer constrained by limited graphics libraries in a realtime OS when developing a human-machine interface (HMI). Embedded virtualization and multiple operating systems allow developers to maintain the real-time behavior of the device while adding other components such as standards-based