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Programming Time-Predictable Processors with Lingua Franca

Authors Magnus Mæhlum , Erling Rennemo Jellum , Shaokai Lin , Marten Lohstroh , Martin Schoeberl , Sverre Hendseth , Edward A. Lee

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Author Details

Magnus Mæhlum
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
Erling Rennemo Jellum
  • University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Shaokai Lin
  • University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Marten Lohstroh
  • University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Martin Schoeberl
  • Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
Sverre Hendseth
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
Edward A. Lee
  • University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

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Magnus Mæhlum, Erling Rennemo Jellum, Shaokai Lin, Marten Lohstroh, Martin Schoeberl, Sverre Hendseth, and Edward A. Lee. Programming Time-Predictable Processors with Lingua Franca. In Sixth Workshop on Next Generation Real-Time Embedded Systems (NG-RES 2025). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 128, pp. 1:1-1:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025) https://doi.org/10.4230/OASIcs.NG-RES.2025.1

Abstract

Precision-timed (PRET) machines are an alternative to modern processors that provide precise control over the timing of software execution. This paper describes a platform for developing predictable real-time embedded systems that pair PRET machines with Lingua Franca (LF), a recent reactor-based coordination language with temporal semantics. Specifically, we port LF to FlexPRET, a PRET machine with flexible hardware thread scheduling. We evaluate single-threaded LF with a tight control loop style application on four embedded platforms, including the FlexPRET. The results reveal the underlying platform’s timing variability and how LF plus FlexPRET can remedy this timing variability. Finally, we compare single-threaded to multithreaded LF, again concerning timing. The four embedded platforms used are FlexPRET (bare-metal), RP2040 (bare-metal), nRF52 (with Zephyr), and Raspberry Pi 3b+ (with Linux). Our results indicate that FlexPRET with LF is attractive when precise timing is essential.

Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Computer systems organization → Embedded and cyber-physical systems
  • Computing methodologies → Distributed programming languages
Keywords
  • Real-time systems
  • time-predictable architecture
  • embedded system
  • coordination language

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