Time-Predictable Computing

Real-time systems need to be time-predictable in order to prove the timeliness of all their time-critical responses. While this is a well-known fact, recent efforts of the community on concretizing the predictability of task timing have shown that there is no common agreement about what the term time-predictability exactly means. In this paper we propose a universal definition of time-predictability that combines the essence of different discussions about this term. This definition is then instantiated to concrete types of time-predictability, like worst-case execution time (WCET) predictability. Finally, we introduce the concept of a timing barrier as a mechanism for constructing time-predictable systems.