ITPEC FE Morning April 2021 Question 74
ITPEC FE Morning April 2021 — Question 74 of 80
A hard real-time system is one where missing a deadline leads to catastrophic or life-threatening consequences. A soft real-time system tolerates occasional deadline misses with degraded but acceptable performance.
An airbag control system must deploy within milliseconds of a collision — any delay can be fatal. This makes it a classic hard real-time system.
Why not others:
- (b) A bank ATM system has timing expectations but a slight delay does not cause physical harm — it is soft real-time.
- (c) A seat reservation system should respond quickly for good UX, but a delay only causes inconvenience — soft real-time.
- (d) A web delivery system (e.g., content delivery) benefits from speed but tolerates latency without catastrophic results — soft real-time.
Key rule: Hard real-time = missing the deadline causes catastrophic/life-threatening failure; soft real-time = missing the deadline only degrades quality of service.
AI-generated — may contain errors
The original exam layout is preserved in the image so diagrams, formulas, tables, and code remain accurate.
This question comes from an official ITPEC past paper. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with ITPEC. See the official FE past-paper collection or Report an issue.