A Dual Programming Model for Distributed Real-Time Java

Abstract

More-and-more, the use of Java as a programming language for real-time applications is becoming of interest in industrial middleware. This is mainly because it offers advantages for the programmer as reduced deployment times, increased portability, and a number of APIs that may be integrated in large distributed applications. This paper contributes a dual communication model for distributed real-time Java applications. Current efforts in distributed real-time Java [e.g., The Distributed Real Time Specification for Java (DRTSJ)] are mainly focused on remote invocations (R.I.) and set aside other valuable approaches such as distributed events. The proposed model offers two choices for developing distributed real-time Java applications (one based on R.I., and another on distributed events), which may be used to develop applications. Both models include an additional support for asynchronism in communications, a feature that may speed up their communication performance. This paper includes a description for the two models, the changes that are required in the current API to accommodate them, and an empirical evaluation of their performance on a reference implementation.