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 timepredictability 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.