BiRtIO: VirtIO for Real-Time Network Interface Sharing on the Bao Hypervisor

The push to reduce size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) has led to the integration of multiple subsystems with different criticality levels onto a single hardware platform. Virtualization has played a crucial role in merging real-time capabilities with complex environments, facilitating the creati...

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Main Authors: Joao Peixoto, Jose Martins, David Cerdeira, Sandro Pinto
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2024-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
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Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10781314/
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author Joao Peixoto
Jose Martins
David Cerdeira
Sandro Pinto
author_facet Joao Peixoto
Jose Martins
David Cerdeira
Sandro Pinto
author_sort Joao Peixoto
collection DOAJ
description The push to reduce size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) has led to the integration of multiple subsystems with different criticality levels onto a single hardware platform. Virtualization has played a crucial role in merging real-time capabilities with complex environments, facilitating the creation of Mixed-Criticality Systems (MCS). However, consolidating various workloads on a single platform often requires shared peripheral access, such as Network Interface Controllers (NICs), among guest Virtual Machines (VMs). VirtIO provides a standardized interface for device para-virtualization, enabling us to deploy device drivers and sharing logic within dedicated VMs. Despite its advantages, VirtIO can introduce latency and reduced throughput due to its reliance on the hypervisor or other VMs for network access, which may exacerbate resource contention and affect time isolation between VMs. Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) techniques can mitigate these issues by ensuring reliable, low-latency, and deterministic network communication, although its implementation often depends on proprietary Linux-based solutions. In this paper, we present BiRtIO, an infrastructure designed to support a virtual real-time network for VMs on the Bao hypervisor without compromising safety and security. It leverages the VirtIO standard and incorporates TSN mechanisms available in mainline Linux, such as bandwidth limitation, to enhance performance and predictability in a saturated virtualized network. Experiments conducted on the Xilinx ZCU102 high-performance multicore platform demonstrate that our solution achieves performance and predictability levels suitable for real-time workloads on MCS with limited Ethernet ports.
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spelling doaj-art-0fa8340a359c4f6293e04d2e6ba43d612025-08-20T02:38:51ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362024-01-011218543418544710.1109/ACCESS.2024.351277710781314BiRtIO: VirtIO for Real-Time Network Interface Sharing on the Bao HypervisorJoao Peixoto0https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3424-9477Jose Martins1David Cerdeira2Sandro Pinto3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4580-7484Centro ALGORITMI, LASI, Universidade do Minho, Guimarães, PortugalCentro ALGORITMI, LASI, Universidade do Minho, Guimarães, PortugalCentro ALGORITMI, LASI, Universidade do Minho, Guimarães, PortugalCentro ALGORITMI, LASI, Universidade do Minho, Guimarães, PortugalThe push to reduce size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) has led to the integration of multiple subsystems with different criticality levels onto a single hardware platform. Virtualization has played a crucial role in merging real-time capabilities with complex environments, facilitating the creation of Mixed-Criticality Systems (MCS). However, consolidating various workloads on a single platform often requires shared peripheral access, such as Network Interface Controllers (NICs), among guest Virtual Machines (VMs). VirtIO provides a standardized interface for device para-virtualization, enabling us to deploy device drivers and sharing logic within dedicated VMs. Despite its advantages, VirtIO can introduce latency and reduced throughput due to its reliance on the hypervisor or other VMs for network access, which may exacerbate resource contention and affect time isolation between VMs. Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) techniques can mitigate these issues by ensuring reliable, low-latency, and deterministic network communication, although its implementation often depends on proprietary Linux-based solutions. In this paper, we present BiRtIO, an infrastructure designed to support a virtual real-time network for VMs on the Bao hypervisor without compromising safety and security. It leverages the VirtIO standard and incorporates TSN mechanisms available in mainline Linux, such as bandwidth limitation, to enhance performance and predictability in a saturated virtualized network. Experiments conducted on the Xilinx ZCU102 high-performance multicore platform demonstrate that our solution achieves performance and predictability levels suitable for real-time workloads on MCS with limited Ethernet ports.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10781314/Mixed-criticality systemsreal-timesecuritytime-sensitive networksVirtIOvirtualization
spellingShingle Joao Peixoto
Jose Martins
David Cerdeira
Sandro Pinto
BiRtIO: VirtIO for Real-Time Network Interface Sharing on the Bao Hypervisor
IEEE Access
Mixed-criticality systems
real-time
security
time-sensitive networks
VirtIO
virtualization
title BiRtIO: VirtIO for Real-Time Network Interface Sharing on the Bao Hypervisor
title_full BiRtIO: VirtIO for Real-Time Network Interface Sharing on the Bao Hypervisor
title_fullStr BiRtIO: VirtIO for Real-Time Network Interface Sharing on the Bao Hypervisor
title_full_unstemmed BiRtIO: VirtIO for Real-Time Network Interface Sharing on the Bao Hypervisor
title_short BiRtIO: VirtIO for Real-Time Network Interface Sharing on the Bao Hypervisor
title_sort birtio virtio for real time network interface sharing on the bao hypervisor
topic Mixed-criticality systems
real-time
security
time-sensitive networks
VirtIO
virtualization
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10781314/
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