title: Testing Real Time Operating System for Hardness
body: <p>I have an embedded device (<a href="http://www.embeddedarm.com/products/board-detail.php?product=TS-7800" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Technologic TS-7800</a>) that advertises real-time capabilities, but says nothing about 'hard' or 'soft'.  While I wait for a response from the manufacturer, I figured it wouldn't hurt to test the system myself.  </p>
  
  <p>What are some established procedures to determine the 'hardness' of a particular device with respect to real time/deterministic behavior (latency and jitter)?</p>
  
  <p>Being at college, I have access to some pretty neat hardware (good oscilloscopes and signal generators), so I don't think I'll run into any issues in terms of testing equipment, just expertise.</p>