Investigating Latency Effects of the Linux Real-Time Preemption Patches (PREEMPT RT) on AMD's GEODE LX Platform

When it comes to embedded systems, real-time characteristics like low-latency, deterministic behavior and guaranteed calculations are of utmost importance and there has been an increasing market demand for real-time features on embedded computers. This paper presents results of benchmarking a standard Linux kernel against a real-time Linux kernel (with PREEMPT_RT patch) using the Debian Linux operating system on AMD Geode LX platform board. As the PREEMPT_RT patch (RT patch) matures further and integrates into the mainline Linux kernel, the authors try to characterize the latency effects (average and worst-case) of this patch on LX-based platform.