Danışman: Dr. Fadi YILMAZ
Tez Başlığı: Performance Analysis of Inter-Process Communication Mechanisms on Real-Time Linux Kernel (PREEMPT_RT) for ARM-Based Embedded Devices
Tarih: 27.10.2026
Saat: 14:30
Yer: Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Toplantı Salonu, A Blok 4. Kat
Performance Analysis of Inter-Process Communication Mechanisms on
Real-Time Linux Kernel for ARM-Based Embedded Devices
ABSTRACT
In many software system, correctness is generally determined as to whether expected outputs
are generated or not. However, in real-time systems, correctness depends not only on the
produced outputs but also on whether there results are produced within required timing
constraints. Such systems are widely used in critical domains such as aerospace, automotive,
and nuclear applications. Due to these strict timing constraints, different approaches are used
and real-time operating systems is one of the primary solutions. Various real-time operating
system options are commonly used in industry, including QNX, Zephyr, VxWorks,
FreeRTOS, and TI-RTOS. These systems typically rely on priority-based scheduling, where a
higher-priority task that becomes ready to run is scheduled within a bounded time and can
preempt a lower-priority task. Despite their technical suitability, these specialized real-time
operating system solutions hold a limited market share compared to dominant general purpose
operating system like Linux, which lacks native support for real time applications.
Linux, a Unix-based general-purpose operating system, is widely adopted in many application
domains. However, it is generally not suitable for hard real-time requirements, as it cannot
guarantee deterministic and bounded latency due to the non-preemptible regions of kernel code.
To address these limitations, the PREEMPT_RT patch has been developed to improve the realtime
capabilities of Linux, and it was integrated into mainline Linux kernel with 6.12 version
as a new preemption model. Linux provides several mechanisms that enable processes to
communicate with each other,such as pipes, message queues, shared memory, sockets, and semaphores.
They are generallyreferred to as inter-process communication mechanisms. Inter-process communication
mechanisms are widely used to facilitate communication between processes running on the
same or different machines. In real time systems, such communication must be performed with
low latency and minimal jitter to ensure predictable, correct and deterministic timely system
behavior.
This thesis evaluates the latency behavior of three different Linux IPC mechanisms—pipes,
POSIX message queues, and shared memory synchronized with POSIX semaphores—under
different Linux kernel preemption models on an ARM-based embedded platform as well as
investigating real-time capabilities of Linux with a particular focus on the PREEMPT_RT
configuration. The evaluation focuses on minimum latency, maximum latency and jitter to
assess the impact of kernel preemptibility. Moreover, this thesis aims to provide a guide for
developers who wish to implement real-time software on Linux using different inter-process
communication mechanisms.