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Documents authored by Cinque, Marcello


Document
The Omnivisor: A Real-Time Static Partitioning Hypervisor Extension for Heterogeneous Core Virtualization over MPSoCs

Authors: Daniele Ottaviano, Francesco Ciraolo, Renato Mancuso, and Marcello Cinque

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 298, 36th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2024)


Abstract
Following the needs of industrial applications, virtualization has emerged as one of the most effective approaches for the consolidation of mixed-criticality systems while meeting tight constraints in terms of space, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C). In embedded platforms with homogeneous processors, a wealth of works have proposed designs and techniques to enforce spatio-temporal isolation by leveraging well-understood virtualization support. Unfortunately, achieving the same goal on heterogeneous MultiProcessor Systems-on-Chip (MPSoCs) has been largely overlooked. Modern hypervisors are designed to operate exclusively on main cores, with little or no consideration given to other co-processors within the system, such as small microcontroller-level CPUs or soft-cores deployed on programmable logic (FPGA). Typically, hypervisors consider co-processors as I/O devices allocated to virtual machines that run on primary cores, yielding full control and responsibility over them. Nevertheless, inadequate management of these resources can lead to spatio-temporal isolation issues within the system. In this paper, we propose the Omnivisor model as a paradigm for the holistic management of heterogeneous platforms. The model generalizes the features of real-time static partitioning hypervisors to enable the execution of virtual machines on processors with different Instruction Set Architectures (ISAs) within the same MPSoC. Moreover, the Omnivisor ensures temporal and spatial isolation between virtual machines by integrating and leveraging a variety of hardware and software protection mechanisms. The presented approach not only expands the scope of virtualization in MPSoCs but also enhances the overall system reliability and real-time performance for mixed-criticality applications. A full open-source reference implementation of the Omnivisor based on the Jailhouse hypervisor is provided, targeting ARM real-time processing units and RISC-V soft-cores on FPGA. Experimental results on real hardware show the benefits of the solution, including enabling the seamless launch of virtual machines on different ISAs and extending spatial/temporal isolation to heterogenous cores with enhanced regulation policies.

Cite as

Daniele Ottaviano, Francesco Ciraolo, Renato Mancuso, and Marcello Cinque. The Omnivisor: A Real-Time Static Partitioning Hypervisor Extension for Heterogeneous Core Virtualization over MPSoCs. In 36th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 298, pp. 7:1-7:27, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)


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@InProceedings{ottaviano_et_al:LIPIcs.ECRTS.2024.7,
  author =	{Ottaviano, Daniele and Ciraolo, Francesco and Mancuso, Renato and Cinque, Marcello},
  title =	{{The Omnivisor: A Real-Time Static Partitioning Hypervisor Extension for Heterogeneous Core Virtualization over MPSoCs}},
  booktitle =	{36th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2024)},
  pages =	{7:1--7:27},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-324-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{298},
  editor =	{Pellizzoni, Rodolfo},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ECRTS.2024.7},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-203107},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ECRTS.2024.7},
  annote =	{Keywords: Mixed-Criticality, Embedded Virtualization, Real-Time Systems, MPSoCs}
}
Document
Artifact
The Omnivisor: A real-time static partitioning hypervisor extension for heterogeneous core virtualization over MPSoCs (Artifact)

Authors: Daniele Ottaviano, Francesco Ciraolo, Renato Mancuso, and Marcello Cinque

Published in: DARTS, Volume 10, Issue 1, Special Issue of the 36th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2024)


Abstract
Following the needs of industrial applications, virtualization has emerged as one of the most effective approaches for the consolidation of mixed-criticality systems while meeting tight constraints in terms of space, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C). In embedded platforms with homogeneous processors, a wealth of works have proposed designs and techniques to enforce spatio-temporal isolation by leveraging well-understood virtualization support. Unfortunately, achieving the same goal on heterogeneous MultiProcessor Systems-on-Chip (MPSoCs) has been largely overlooked. Modern hypervisors are designed to operate exclusively on main cores, with little or no consideration given to other co-processors within the system, such as small microcontroller-level CPUs or soft-cores deployed on programmable logic (FPGA). Typically, hypervisors consider co-processors as I/O devices allocated to virtual machines that run on primary cores, yielding full control and responsibility over them. Nevertheless, inadequate management of these resources can lead to spatio-temporal isolation issues within the system. In this paper, we propose the Omnivisor model as a paradigm for the holistic management of heterogeneous platforms. The model generalizes the features of real-time static partitioning hypervisors to enable the execution of virtual machines on processors with different Instruction Set Architectures (ISAs) within the same MPSoC. Moreover, the Omnivisor ensures temporal and spatial isolation between virtual machines by integrating and leveraging a variety of hardware and software protection mechanisms. The presented approach not only expands the scope of virtualization in MPSoCs but also enhances the overall system reliability and real-time performance for mixed-criticality applications. A full open-source reference implementation of the Omnivisor based on the Jailhouse hypervisor is provided, targeting ARM real-time processing units and RISC-V soft-cores on FPGA. Experimental results on real hardware show the benefits of the solution, in terms of the seamless launch of virtual machines on different ISAs, and spatial/temporal isolation, enhanced with regulation policies.

Cite as

Daniele Ottaviano, Francesco Ciraolo, Renato Mancuso, and Marcello Cinque. The Omnivisor: A real-time static partitioning hypervisor extension for heterogeneous core virtualization over MPSoCs (Artifact). In Special Issue of the 36th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2024). Dagstuhl Artifacts Series (DARTS), Volume 10, Issue 1, pp. 4:1-4:7, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)


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@Article{ottaviano_et_al:DARTS.10.1.4,
  author =	{Ottaviano, Daniele and Ciraolo, Francesco and Mancuso, Renato and Cinque, Marcello},
  title =	{{The Omnivisor: A real-time static partitioning hypervisor extension for heterogeneous core virtualization over MPSoCs (Artifact)}},
  pages =	{4:1--4:7},
  journal =	{Dagstuhl Artifacts Series},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-327-0},
  ISSN =	{2509-8195},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{10},
  number =	{1},
  editor =	{Ottaviano, Daniele and Ciraolo, Francesco and Mancuso, Renato and Cinque, Marcello},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/DARTS.10.1.4},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-203267},
  doi =		{10.4230/DARTS.10.1.4},
  annote =	{Keywords: Mixed-Criticality, Embedded Virtualization, Real-Time Systems, MPSoCs.}
}
Document
Artifact
Achieving Isolation in Mixed-Criticality Industrial Edge Systems with Real-Time Containers (Artifact)

Authors: Marco Barletta, Marcello Cinque, Luigi De Simone, and Raffaele Della Corte

Published in: DARTS, Volume 8, Issue 1, Special Issue of the 34th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2022)


Abstract
Real-time containers are a promising solution to reduce latencies in time-sensitive cloud systems. Recent efforts are emerging to extend their usage in industrial edge systems with mixed-criticality constraints. In these contexts, isolation becomes a major concern: a disturbance (such as timing faults or unexpected overloads) affecting a container must not impact the behavior of other containers deployed on the same hardware. In this artifact, we propose a novel architectural solution to achieve isolation in real-time containers, based on real-time co-kernels, hierarchical scheduling, and time-division networking. The architecture has been implemented on Linux patched with the Xenomai co-kernel, extended with a new hierarchical scheduling policy, named SCHED_DS, and integrating the RTNet stack. Experimental results, presented in the related scholarly paper, are promising in terms of overhead and latency compared to other Linux-based solutions. More importantly, the isolation of containers is guaranteed even in presence of severe co-located disturbances, such as faulty tasks (elapsing more time than declared) or high CPU, network, or I/O stress on the same machine.

Cite as

Marco Barletta, Marcello Cinque, Luigi De Simone, and Raffaele Della Corte. Achieving Isolation in Mixed-Criticality Industrial Edge Systems with Real-Time Containers (Artifact). In Special Issue of the 34th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2022). Dagstuhl Artifacts Series (DARTS), Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 1:1-1:12, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@Article{barletta_et_al:DARTS.8.1.1,
  author =	{Barletta, Marco and Cinque, Marcello and De Simone, Luigi and Della Corte, Raffaele},
  title =	{{Achieving Isolation in Mixed-Criticality Industrial Edge Systems with Real-Time Containers (Artifact)}},
  pages =	{1:1--1:12},
  journal =	{Dagstuhl Artifacts Series},
  ISSN =	{2509-8195},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{8},
  number =	{1},
  editor =	{Barletta, Marco and Cinque, Marcello and De Simone, Luigi and Della Corte, Raffaele},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/DARTS.8.1.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-164979},
  doi =		{10.4230/DARTS.8.1.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: Real-time, Mixed-criticality, Containers, Edge computing}
}
Document
Achieving Isolation in Mixed-Criticality Industrial Edge Systems with Real-Time Containers

Authors: Marco Barletta, Marcello Cinque, Luigi De Simone, and Raffaele Della Corte

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 231, 34th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2022)


Abstract
Real-time containers are a promising solution to reduce latencies in time-sensitive cloud systems. Recent efforts are emerging to extend their usage in industrial edge systems with mixed-criticality constraints. In these contexts, isolation becomes a major concern: a disturbance (such as timing faults or unexpected overloads) affecting a container must not impact the behavior of other containers deployed on the same hardware. In this paper, we propose a novel architectural solution to achieve isolation in real-time containers, based on real-time co-kernels, hierarchical scheduling, and time-division networking. The architecture has been implemented on Linux patched with the Xenomai co-kernel, extended with a new hierarchical scheduling policy, named SCHED_DS, and integrating the RTNet stack. Experimental results are promising in terms of overhead and latency compared to other Linux-based solutions. More importantly, the isolation of containers is guaranteed even in presence of severe co-located disturbances, such as faulty tasks (elapsing more time than declared) or high CPU, network, or I/O stress on the same machine.

Cite as

Marco Barletta, Marcello Cinque, Luigi De Simone, and Raffaele Della Corte. Achieving Isolation in Mixed-Criticality Industrial Edge Systems with Real-Time Containers. In 34th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 231, pp. 15:1-15:23, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)


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@InProceedings{barletta_et_al:LIPIcs.ECRTS.2022.15,
  author =	{Barletta, Marco and Cinque, Marcello and De Simone, Luigi and Della Corte, Raffaele},
  title =	{{Achieving Isolation in Mixed-Criticality Industrial Edge Systems with Real-Time Containers}},
  booktitle =	{34th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2022)},
  pages =	{15:1--15:23},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-239-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{231},
  editor =	{Maggio, Martina},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ECRTS.2022.15},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-163328},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ECRTS.2022.15},
  annote =	{Keywords: Real-time, Mixed-criticality, Containers, Edge computing}
}
Document
RT-CASEs: Container-Based Virtualization for Temporally Separated Mixed-Criticality Task Sets

Authors: Marcello Cinque, Raffaele Della Corte, Antonio Eliso, and Antonio Pecchia

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 133, 31st Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2019)


Abstract
This paper presents the notion of real-time containers, or rt-cases, conceived as the convergence of container-based virtualization technologies, such as Docker, and hard real-time operating systems. The idea is to allow critical containers, characterized by stringent timeliness and reliability requirements, to cohabit with traditional non real-time containers on the same hardware. The approach allows to keep the advantages of real-time virtualization, largely adopted in the industry, while reducing its inherent scalability limitation when to be applied to large-scale mixed-criticality systems or severely constrained hardware environments. The paper provides a reference architecture scheme for implementing the real-time container concept on top of a Linux kernel patched with a hard real-time co-kernel, and it discusses a possible solution, based on execution time monitoring, to achieve temporal separation of fixed-priority hard real-time periodic tasks running within containers with different criticality levels. The solution has been implemented using Docker over a Linux kernel patched with RTAI. Experimental results on real machinery show how the implemented solution is able to achieve temporal separation on a variety of random task sets, despite the presence of faulty tasks within a container that systematically exceed their worst case execution time.

Cite as

Marcello Cinque, Raffaele Della Corte, Antonio Eliso, and Antonio Pecchia. RT-CASEs: Container-Based Virtualization for Temporally Separated Mixed-Criticality Task Sets. In 31st Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 133, pp. 5:1-5:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)


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@InProceedings{cinque_et_al:LIPIcs.ECRTS.2019.5,
  author =	{Cinque, Marcello and Della Corte, Raffaele and Eliso, Antonio and Pecchia, Antonio},
  title =	{{RT-CASEs: Container-Based Virtualization for Temporally Separated Mixed-Criticality Task Sets}},
  booktitle =	{31st Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS 2019)},
  pages =	{5:1--5:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-110-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{133},
  editor =	{Quinton, Sophie},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ECRTS.2019.5},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-107426},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ECRTS.2019.5},
  annote =	{Keywords: Containers, mixed-criticality, temporal separation, monitoring}
}
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