Achieving Hard Real-Time Java

Abstract

Real-time systems engineers have, for some time, identified Java as an attractive programming language, but have been unable to exploit its benefits as it cannot provide the fundamental temporal predictability required. However, this is all changing, as academic and industrial experts propose extensions to the Java environment. On the basis of this study, significant agreement has been found in how some of the critical areas of Java may be addressed for real-time, such as memory management and portability. However, areas such as scheduling and interprocess communication, have been contentious, even among expert opinion. This paper considers the current status of this exciting and emerging, soon to become, real-time programming language, with a focus on process control application. In addition, it will overview a preliminary performance assessment of the alleged real-time java virtual machine (JVM) from NewMonics Inc and compared upfront with the Sun JVM.