A Jitter-Free Kernel for Hard Real-Time Systems

The paper presents advanced task management techniques featuring Boolean vectors and bitwise vector operations on kernel data structures in the context of the HARTEXTM hard real-time kernel. These techniques have been consistently applied to all aspects of task management and interaction. Hence, the execution time of system functions no longer depends on the number of tasks involved, resulting in predictable, jitter-free kernel operation. This approach has been further extended to time management resulting in a new type of kernel component, which can be used to implement timed multitasking a novel technique providing for jitter-free execution of hard real-time tasks.