MPIOV: Scaling hardware-based I/O virtualization for mixed-criticality embedded real-time systems using non transparent bridges to (Multi-Core) multi-processor systems

Daniel Munch, Michael Paulitsch, Oliver Hanka, Andreas Herkersdorf

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Safety-critical systems consolidating multiple functionalities of different criticality (so-called mixed-criticality systems) require separation between these functionalities to assure safety and security properties. Performance-hungry and safety-critical applications (like a radar processing system steering an autonomous flying aircraft) may demand an embedded highperformance computing cluster of more than one (multi-core) processor. This paper presents the Multi-Processor I/O Virtualization (MPIOV) concept to enable hardware-based Input/Output (I/O) virtualization or sharing with separation among multiple (multi-core) processors in (mixed-criticality) embedded real-time systems, which usually do not have means for separation like an Input/Output Memory Management Unit (IOMMU). The concept uses a Non-Transparent Bridge (NTB) to connect each processing host to the management host, while checking the target address and source / origin ID to decide whether or not to block a transaction. It is a standardized, portable and non-proprietary platform-independent spatial separation solution that does not require an IOMMU in the processor. Furthermore, the concept sketches an approach for PCI Express (PCIe)-based systems to enable sharing of up to 2048 (virtual) functions per endpoint, while still being compatible to the plain PCIe standard. A practical evaluation demonstrates that the impact to performance degradation (transfer time, transfer rate) is negligible (about 0.01%) compared to a system without separation.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 2015 Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, DATE 2015
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages579-584
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9783981537048
DOIs
StatePublished - 22 Apr 2015
Event2015 Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, DATE 2015 - Grenoble, France
Duration: 9 Mar 201513 Mar 2015

Publication series

NameProceedings -Design, Automation and Test in Europe, DATE
Volume2015-April
ISSN (Print)1530-1591

Conference

Conference2015 Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, DATE 2015
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityGrenoble
Period9/03/1513/03/15

Keywords

  • IOMMU
  • IOMPU
  • hardware-based I/O virtualization
  • mixed-criticality systems
  • multi-core
  • multiprocessor
  • non-transparent bridge (NTB)
  • real-time embedded systems
  • spatial separation

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