Priority inversion at the network adapter when scheduling messages with earliest deadline techniques

In this paper we present a novel approach in the study of the predictability of real-time message transmission and its relationship with the design of network adapters for real-time distributed systems. The aim is to limit the occurrence of large priority inversions among messages, so as to achieve a better degree of predictability. We show that when the proper network adapters are used in conjunction with earliest deadline message scheduling the loss in processor utilization is minimized and predictable.