Discuss hard vs soft real-time systems, jitter, deadline, and latency budget — vocabulary for embedded and edge engineers.
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A 'hard real-time' system differs from a 'soft real-time' system in that:
In hard real-time systems, missing a timing deadline is catastrophic (e.g., airbag controller). In soft real-time systems, occasional deadline misses degrade quality but are tolerable.
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In real-time systems, 'jitter' refers to:
Jitter is the variability in packet delay or event timing — high jitter means inconsistent timing, which is problematic for real-time control loops.
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Which phrase correctly describes a system's 'deadline'?
In real-time computing, a deadline is the latest acceptable completion time for a task — missing it may cause system failure or unacceptable degradation.
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What is a 'watchdog timer' in embedded systems?
A watchdog timer detects when a system has hung — if the software fails to reset it periodically, the watchdog triggers a system reset.
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In the context of real-time systems, 'preemption' means:
Preemption allows a higher-priority task to interrupt a currently running lower-priority task — essential for meeting deadlines in real-time scheduling.