Impact of the x86 System Management Mode in Real-Time Systems

Author

Starke, Renan A. ; de Oliveira, Romulo S.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Autom. & Syst., Fed. Univ. of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil

fYear

2011

fDate

7-11 Nov. 2011

Firstpage

151

Lastpage

157

Abstract

There is a tendency toward the use of personal computers (PC) in real-time systems. These computers have high processing capacity and reduced costs when compared to software and hardware development for dedicated platforms. However, real-time systems require latency predictability and the processors of the x86 architecture have a special protection and correction mode known as System Management Mode (SMM). This mode is not traceable by the operating system and it can cause unpredictability in the system. This article describes the SMM, presents tools and methods for its detection and an analysis of its impact on real-time systems.

Keywords

computer architecture; instruction sets; multiprocessing systems; operating systems (computers); hardware development; high processing capacity; latency predictability; operating system; personal computers; real-time systems; reduced costs; software development; x86 architecture; x86 system management mode; Detectors; Hardware; Kernel; Linux; Program processors; Real time systems; System Management Mode (SMM); personal computers; real-time systems;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Computing System Engineering (SBESC), 2011 Brazilian Symposium on

Conference_Location

Florianopolis

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-0427-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SBESC.2011.41

Filename

6114850