Measurement of processor occupancy in a cyclic non-preemptive real-time control system

ABSTRACT

An algorithm which is used to measure occupancy in Stromberg-Carlson's Digital Central Office (DCO) call processors is presented. The method is self-calibrating, making it independent of differences in processor speed, type, and other variables which affect processor performance. Required is an external event generator which can generate an event to the processor at fixed time intervals. Calibration needs one time interval with no events to occur before valid occupancy measurements may be made. No clock internal to the processor is required. The method is highly accurate even at high occupancies and incurs very little processor overhead to perform its measurements. Processor occupancy can be displayed at the end of any user-specified time period.

REFERENCES

• 1: Gopalakrishna, N., "Processor Capacity of SPC Switching Systems" ICC, 1981, pp. ii.4.1-5.
• 2: Per Brinch Hansen, Operating System Principles, Prentice Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1973
• 3: Richards, G. W. , Warner, J. C., and Brand, J. E., Some Characteristics of Electronic Switching System Main Program Task Scheduling" Compsac '77, pp 173-178
• 4: Somoza, P. and Guerrero, A., "Dynamic Processor Overload for SPC Switching Systems" Electrical Communications 55-I, 1980, pp 37-45
• 5: Woodward, J. W., "System Century DCO Call Processing Software Structure and Operation" Compsac '77, pp 158-167

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS

General Terms:
Management, Measurement, Reliability