Providing temporal isolation in the OSGi framework

Abstract

The OSGi Framework is a run-time environment for deploying service-containing Java components. Dynamically reconfigurable Java applications can be developed through the Framework's powerful capabilities such as installing, uninstalling, updating components at run-time, and allowing the substitution of service implementations at run-time. Coupled with the capability to be remotely managed, the OSGi Framework is proving a success in a variety of application domains. One domain where it is yet to make an impact is real-time systems. Despite the fact that OSGi components and services can be developed using the Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ), there are still a variety of problems preventing the use of the Framework to develop real-time systems. One such problem is a lack of temporal isolation. This paper focuses on how temporal isolation can be provided in the OSGi Framework as a first step towards using the Framework to developing real-time systems with the RTSJ.