Parallelizing Industrial Hard Real-Time Applications for the parMERASA Multicore

The EC project parMERASA (Multicore Execution of Parallelized Hard Real-Time Applications Supporting Analyzability) investigated timing-analyzable parallel hard real-time applications running on a predictable multicore processor. A pattern-supported parallelization approach was developed to ease sequential to parallel program transformation based on parallel design patterns that are timing analyzable. The parallelization approach was applied to parallelize the following industrial hard real-time programs: 3D path planning and stereo navigation algorithms (Honeywell International s.r.o.), control algorithm for a dynamic compaction machine (BAUER Maschinen GmbH), and a diesel engine management system (DENSO AUTOMOTIVE Deutschland GmbH). This article focuses on the parallelization approach, experiences during parallelization with the applications, and quantitative results reached by simulation, by static WCET analysis with the OTAWA tool, and by measurement-based WCET analysis with the RapiTime tool.