Course Highlights:
This is a comprehensive training that examines the activities of high-level design of real-time and embedded systems software that's to be developed using a real-time operating system (RTOS) and the activities involved in discovering and correcting errors, flaws, faults and failures in real-time and embedded systems software.
The training comprises of 2 modules:Architectural Design of Real-Time Software and Debugging Real-Time Software

Module 1: Architectural Design of Real-Time Software :
This course examines the activities of high-level design of real-time and embedded systems software that's to be developed using a real-time operating system (RTOS).

The class begins with a quick examination of some fundamental issues in real-time multitasking embedded application software design and development, and briefly reviews several modern techniques for real-time and embedded software requirements specification.  It then quickly focuses on how to structure a software system that must execute within strict deadline and resource limits. Emphasis is placed on multitasking and timing behaviors, rather than object orientation.

The class continues with a detailed examination of intertask communication and synchronization options including mutexes of several varieties.  The next  major subject area of the class is the evaluation of timing performance and quality of a real-time or embedded software design.  This is followed by a session on the design of very large and complex embedded systems.

This course is not a general course about software design theory, but rather it is highly focused on the design of deeply-embedded, time-constrained, resource-constrained multitasking software that will run under the control of a modern RTOS.


Module 2: Debugging Real-Time Software
This course examines the activities involved in discovering and correcting errors, flaws, faults and failures in real-time and embedded systems software.

The class begins with a presentation of the main steps and guidelines for identifying and remedying situations in which real-time and embedded software is not working correctly. This is followed by a survey of the wide range of categories of bugs from which such software can suffer .  The class then quickly focuses in on a detailed discussion of the "top 5" kinds of bugs that can be "project killers" or "product killers", including stack overflows, race conditions, deadlocks, timing problems, and re-entrancy conditions.  Emphasis is placed on multitasking and timing behaviors, rather than on general data processing issues.

The class continues with an examination of debugging tools that are helpful in real-time software development, such as low-level monitors, and high-level RTOS-aware system debuggers. 'Liveness' issues including deadly embrace, lockout, memory starvation and CPU starvation are discussed in depth.  As are the special sorts of bugs that tend to create problems in Interrupt Service Routines ("ISRs").  Attendees learn how to evaluate configuration and capacity needs, as well as to examine design dangers such as interrupt overflow.  The class continues with techniques for quantitative evaluation of timing performance bugs in real-time software.

This course is not a general course about software debugging, but rather it is highly focused on the debugging of embedded, time-constrained, resource-constrained multitasking software that may run under the control of a modern real-time operating system ("RTOS").

Objective of the course
The primary goal of this course is to give the participant the skills necessary to do high-level design of software for real-time and embedded computer systems using a real-time operating system and to identify and correct defects in software for real-time computer systems developed with or without an RTOS. .  This is a very practical, results-oriented course that will provide knowledge and skills that can be applied immediately.

Who Should Attend:
This course is intended for practicing real-time and embedded systems software system architects, project managers and technical consultants who have responsibility for designing, structuring and implementing the software for real-time and embedded computer systems using an RTOS.

Course participants are expected to have thorough familiarity with at least one RTOS.  [This knowledge can also be gained by attending one of the prerequisite introductory courses "Introduction to Embedded Systems and Software" or "Introduction to Real-Time Operating Systems".]


INSTRUCTOR:  Dr. David Kalinsky
Dr David Kalinsky has more than thirty years of experience in the design and construction of real-time and embedded computer systems software.  He is a popular lecturer and seminar leader on technologies for embedded software development, appearing before audiences of professional engineers in North America, Europe and Israel.  David regularly presents classes at the Embedded Systems Conferences on topics such as "Architectural Design of Device Drivers" and "Principles of High Availability Embedded Systems Design".

He has built and managed high-tech training programs on aspects of software engineering for the development of real-time and embedded systems for a number of Silicon Valley companies.  He has also been involved in the design of many embedded medical and aerospace systems.  In addition, he has in the past developed and taught training courses on a number of major real-time operating systems (RTOSs), including VRTX, pSOS, VxWorks, OSEK / VDX, Nucleus, OSE and others.  With his broad experience, he has trained thousands of embedded systems software engineers and architectural designers throughout the world.