Performance and Reliability of QNX Hypervisor 8.0 in Embedded Systems

A Comprehensive Benchmarking Study of Virtualization Overhead, Jitter, and Real-Time Behavior

Virtualization is now foundational in embedded systems, especially in real-time, safety-critical domains. Yet traditional benchmarking tools often fail to capture its true impact. This whitepaper introduces a specialized methodology for evaluating hypervisor performance, focusing on QNX Hypervisor 8.0. Through a blend of industry-standard and custom tests, it examines how the hypervisor handles CPU scheduling, graphics rendering, filesystem access, and network throughput under varied workloads and configurations.

You'll discover:

  • What happens when virtualized Linux is given the same number of cores as native Linux?
  • Can a virtual CPU float across multiple cores and still deliver consistent performance?
  • How does jitter behave in both host and guest environments under load?
  • What’s the real impact of para-virtualized drivers on throughput and latency?

The framework isolates key performance factors like interrupt handling, VirtIO overhead, and workload consistency, while ensuring repeatability across platforms. Whether you're building for automotive, defense, industrial automation, or medical systems, this paper offers a fresh lens on how virtualization can be both predictable and efficient—even under pressure.

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