BITS ZG553 (EC-1 Regular) Page 1 of 2

Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani

Distance Learning Programmes Division
First Semester 2008-2009
Mid-Semester Test
(EC-1 Regular)

Course No. : BITS ZG553
Course Title : REAL TIME SYSTEMS
Nature of Exam : Closed Book
Weightage : 40%
Duration : 2 Hours
Date of Exam : 02/08/2008 (FN)
Note:
1. Please follow all the Instructions to Candidates given on the cover page of the answer book.
2. All parts of a question should be answered consecutively. Each answer should start from a fresh page.
3. Mobile phones and computers of any kind should not be used inside the examination hall.
4. Use of any unfair means will result in severe disciplinary action.

Q.1 The feasible interval of each job in the precedence graph is given next to its name.
The execution time of all jobs is equal to 1.
(a). Find the effective release times and deadlines of the jobs in the precedence
graphshown below.
(b). Find an EDF schedule of the jobs.
(c). A job is said to be at level i if the length of the longest path from the job to
the jobs that have no successors is i. So, jobs J
3
, J
6
and J
9
are at level 0, jobs
J
2
, J
5
and J
8
are at level 1 and so on. Suppose that the priorities of the jobs
are assigned based on their levels; the highest the level, the higher the
priority. Find a priority-driven schedule of the jobs according to this priority
assignment.





[4 + 4 + 4 = 12]

Q.2 A cyclic scheduler is used to schedule a set of four periodic tasks:
T
1
= (10, 1,12); T
2
= (15,1.5,11); T
3
= (21,12,15) and T
4
= (32,4,24).
(a) Is the task set schedulable? Justify your answer.
(b) Find hyperperiod and possible frame size(s) satisfying all the required
constraints.
(c) Which option is better if you have to choose between f = 5 and f = 6 in the
above case? Why? [2 + 5 + 1 = 8]
No. of Pages = 2
No. of Questions = 4

BITS ZG553 (EC-1 Regular) Page 2 of 2
BITS ZG553 (EC-1 REGULAR) FIRST SEMESTER 2008-2009 PAGE 2



Q.3 (a). Explain how Rate Monotonic Algorithm and Deadline Monotonic Algorithms
differ from each other? Which is better and why? [2]

Q.3 (b). Which of the following systems of periodic tasks are schedulable by Rate
Monotonic and Earliest Deadline First Algorithm? Explain your answers.
i) T
i
= {(12,2), (16,4), (20,8)}
ii) T
i
= {(12,2), (15,5), (21,10)} [4 + 4 = 8]

Q.4 (a). Comment on the following briefly:
i) Mutual exclusion and critical section
ii) Effects of resource contention
iii) Avoiding unbounded priority inversion [2 + 2 + 2 = 6]

Q.4 (b). What are the various ways a job is blocked by another job in resource access
control protocols? Explain with the help of resource graphs. [4]



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