Real-time Software Development Research Articles

Deep-learning-based airborne transient electromagnetic inversion providing the depth of investigation

We develop an integrated workflow that uses deep-learning (DL)-based approaches for processing and inverting airborne transient electromagnetic (ATEM) data. Our novel workflow automates these preprocessing steps and enables real-time inversion in the field. Thus, we develop an entire inversion workflow using three DL networks that cover all steps from preprocessing to imaging. The preprocessing DL network performs interpolation to discard data that are severely noise contaminated and suppress the effects of noise in a late-time channel. We use an inversion DL network and a depth of investigation (DOI) network to generate images of subsurface resistivities exclusively within the DOI range where reliable predictions can be made. To optimize the inversion process, our approach focuses on designing the inversion DL network to simultaneously minimize data misfit and model misfit. By addressing these two aspects, we ensure a more robust outcome in the final resistivity images. The practical applicability of the workflow is verified by comparing the imaging results of the field data with those of conventional inversion and geologic interpretation. Each workflow is nearly automatic and very fast; we expect that our workflow will contribute to the development of real-time imaging software for the ATEM survey, which expands the applications of the ATEM survey in various fields.

A flexible communication stack design for improved software development on industrial testbeds and simulators

In order to facilitate deterministic behavior; industrial real-time communication stacks need another design than non-real-time communication stacks typically found in e.g., Internet of Things and Cloud solutions. We propose a flexible stack design that enable code reuse between testbeds and simulators, as well as how stack layers are driven and prioritized. The design can be generalized and used for non-real-time bare-metal solutions like battery powered Internet of Things. Our approach aims at extending the use of simulation during development of industrial systems in order to find logical errors and wrong assumptions earlier in the development. Conducted and evaluated experiments show that the proposed solutions are able to extend the use of simulation during development of real-time communication software. This is achieved by reusing the same code on an industrial testbed and in a discrete event simulator. In addition, the experiments show that the stack design is generalizable and enable reuse with other non-real-time embedded systems. The contribution consists of a set of building blocks for real-time systems that enable control over the system timing when executing on a simulation host while reusing the source code from an industrial testbed. Overall, this will improve the engineering situation, with respect to code reuse, flexibility and debugging.

The RTApipe framework for the gamma-ray real-time analysis software development

In the multi-messenger era, coordinating observations between astronomical facilities is mandatory to study transient phenomena (e.g. Gamma-ray bursts) and is achieved by sharing information with the scientific community through networks such as the Gamma-ray Coordinates Network. The facilities usually develop real-time scientific analysis pipelines to detect transient events, alert the astrophysical community, and speed up the reaction time of science alerts received from other observatories. We present in this work the RTApipe framework, designed to facilitate the development of real-time scientific analysis pipelines for present and future gamma-ray observatories. This framework provides pipeline architecture and automatisms, allowing the researchers to focus on the scientific aspects and integrate existing science tools developed with different technologies. The pipelines automatically execute all the configured analyses during the data acquisition. This framework can be interfaced with science alerts networks to perform follow-up analysis of transient events shared by other facilities. The analyses are performed in parallel and can be prioritised. The workload is highly scalable on a cluster of machines. The framework provides the required services using containerisation technology for easy deployment. We present the RTA pipelines developed for the AGILE space mission and the prototype of the SAG system for the ground-based future Cherenkov Telescope Array observatory confirming that the RTApipe framework can be used to successfully develop pipelines for the gamma-ray observatories, both space and ground-based.

Fast multi-phase gain matrix computation for real time distribution system state estimation

Efficient distribution system state estimation (DSSE) is becoming increasingly important in modern grids. Building the gain matrix is carried out at every iteration of the weighted least squares (WLS) DSSE algorithm that employs the normal equations approach, and the computation of this matrix occupies a substantial portion of the total execution time. This paper presents a two-phase algorithm for the efficient gain matrix calculation suitable for modern CPU architectures. The preparation phase creates the necessary structures for effective data streaming and code execution. The gain matrix is calculated in the second phase using the prepared data and single instruction multiple data (SIMD) intrinsics. The Jacobian measurement matrix is organized as a sparse matrix of small dense blocks with double-precision complex values. The implementation exploits memory-aligned data blocks that require fewer CPU instructions and provide higher memory access speeds, in addition to modern C++ features for utilizing the instruction pipelining technique fully. Numerical results are reported on sizeable distribution networks having up to 3124 multi-phase nodes and 9537 three-phase nodes. They show that the proposed approach for computing the gain matrix is up to three times faster than the sparse matrix–matrix multiplication function in the SuiteSparse package, which makes the procedure useful for the development of real-time DSSE software.

Challenges in Low-Level Integration Testing of T2080 in Integrated Modular Architecture

The aircraft’s mission system is subject to continual revision by removal or obsolete upgrades. In addition to user and integration requirements, security considerations have become a major driving force in the design of today’s avionics systems. To achieve this, system design uses functional risk analysis and abstract system description to provide a coherent design that meets certification needs. The objective of the study was to spot evaluation criteria that may allow developers and certification bodies to gauge specific real-time security-critical software development tools from a system security perspective. The report clarifies the context of software development tools in relevancy current aeronautical systems certification guidelines. Research efforts continue in two directions: (1) collecting data on instrument quality assessment efforts to consider possible future revisions of existing guidelines, and (2) create a classification for evaluating software development tools by identifying tool categories, characteristics, concerns, factors, and evaluation methods. The topic report has four components: (1) industry perspective, (2) expertise, (3) quality assessment, and (4) instrumental assessment. Data collected from the industry influences the assessment process and recommendations for development tooling practices. Several methods of instrument evaluation are described. The report presents the different types of tools identified during the research. This classification is prohibited within the scope of studies directed by DO-178C DAL standard. Finally, the report defines the tool evaluation structure and organization.

State of machine and deep learning in histopathological applications in digestive diseases.

Machine learning (ML)- and deep learning (DL)-based imaging modalities have exhibited the capacity to handle extremely high dimensional data for a number of computer vision tasks. While these approaches have been applied to numerous data types, this capacity can be especially leveraged by application on histopathological images, which capture cellular and structural features with their high-resolution, microscopic perspectives. Already, these methodologies have demonstrated promising performance in a variety of applications like disease classification, cancer grading, structure and cellular localizations, and prognostic predictions. A wide range of pathologies requiring histopathological evaluation exist in gastroenterology and hepatology, indicating these as disciplines highly targetable for integration of these technologies. Gastroenterologists have also already been primed to consider the impact of these algorithms, as development of real-time endoscopic video analysis software has been an active and popular field of research. This heightened clinical awareness will likely be important for future integration of these methods and to drive interdisciplinary collaborations on emerging studies. To provide an overview on the application of these methodologies for gastrointestinal and hepatological histopathological slides, this review will discuss general ML and DL concepts, introduce recent and emerging literature using these methods, and cover challenges moving forward to further advance the field.

Genetic Algorithm for Test Suite Optimization: An Experimental Investigation of Different Selection Methods

Software Testing is an important aspect of the real time software development process. Software testing always assures the quality of software product. As associated with software testing, there are few very important issues where there is a need to pay attention on it in the process of software development test. These issues are generation of effective test case and test suite as well as optimization of test case and suite while doing testing of software product. The important issue is that testing time of the test case and test suite. It is very much important that after development of software product effective testing should be performed. So to overcome these issues of optimization, we have proposed new approach for test suite optimization using genetic algorithm (GA). Genetic algorithm is evolutionary in nature so it is often used for optimization of problem by researcher. In this paper, our aim is to study various selections methods like tournament selection, rank selection and roulette wheel selection and then we apply this genetic algorithm (GA) on various programs which will generate optimized test suite with parameters like fitness value of test case, test suite and take minimum amount of time for execution after certain preset generation. In this paper our main objectives as per the experimental investigation, we show that tournament selection works very fine as compared to other methods with respect fitness selection of test case and test suites, testing time of test case and test suites as well as number of requirements.

Design of Multi-mode Heterogeneous Fusion Terminal for Power System

With the increasing demand of users and power supply quality in the power grid market, this puts forward higher requirements on the power system. However, the traditional power system has many limitations. People need to be able to upgrade on the basis of the traditional power grid to adapt to changing requirements. The purpose of this paper is to study the design of multi-mode heterogeneous fusion terminal in power system. This article is based on two wireless network technology solutions, GPRS wireless public network and LTE-230 wireless private network, a hardware development platform with STM32F107VCT6 microprocessor as the core, and a μ C/OS-III embedded real-time operating system software development platform, has designed the multi-mode heterogeneous fusion terminal of the electricity information collection system. This article deeply analyzes the demand for multi-mode heterogeneous fusion terminals of the electricity consumption information collection system, which is mainly used for the collection of electricity consumption information and the marketing and distribution automation management of power services; then it analyzes the work of the GPRS network and the LTE-230 network Principle and network system structure. This article designs the communication driver and application program, and analyzes the software architecture in detail. According to the logic processing structure of the internal data of the multi-mode heterogeneous fusion terminal, this article designs the data forwarding process in detail. In this paper, protocol conversion test, interface test and communication test are carried out on multi-mode heterogeneous fusion terminal. The test results show that when the system buffer K is 2 or 4, that is, if the average size of each message in the system is 100 Bytes, and the buffer is set to 800 Bytes, the system loss rate will approach zero.

Development of Real-Time Software for Thomson Scattering Analysis at NSTX-U

The Thomson scattering (TS) diagnostic on the National Spherical Tokamak eXperiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) has been an essential system for many operational campaigns due to its function of measuring plasma electron density and temperature. Constructive feedback to improve the next plasma discharge, however, has been limited because of in-between shots analysis. Plasma control, therefore, desires a diagnostic system that is real-time capable. This contribution presents the development of software that demonstrates the feasibility of a real-time TS diagnostic system for NSTX-U. The developed software is able to evaluate the electron temperature and density within 2.5 ms.The overall system requirement is specified by a 60-Hz timing cycle, which is driven by the TS laser pulse rate. The real-time software processes the peak amplitudes of the detected photons, evaluates the electron temperature and density, and then outputs them to an analog output card that is used to interface with the NSTX-U control. The real-time software is implemented in an object-oriented architecture using C++11. C++11 software components include class, Atomic data types for synchronization, and a Hash data structure. The software application makes use of multiple threads that run concurrently: a thread to acquire the photon peak amplitude and feed a circular buffer, threads to evaluate the electron density and temperatures, and a thread that supplies corresponding output voltages and feeds the output card.In summary, the new real-time TS system has been proven to meet the 60-Hz system requirement. For this reason, the software implementation was deemed successful. In future NSTX-U campaigns, this diagnostic will be a great asset enabling real-time plasma density and temperature control.

ANALYZING REFACTORING TRENDS AND PRACTICES IN THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY

Most of the developers in the software industry though have some instinctive capacity to refactor but the true expertise of this skill is rarely found in real time software development. Thus it is significant to discern the reasons as to how prevalent are the refactoring practices in reality and what are the major factors impacting its role and adoption in software development. This paper tries to explore the actual implementation of refactoring practices in software industry by taking inputs from the software professionals working in different projects and companies. This exploration is basically required to assess the gap between research practices and Industrial norms. An important fact that to this work is also that we try to probe the consequences in absence of refactoring, What are the code rejuvenation practices adopted by the professionals in absence of refactoring or due to non familiarity or lack of expertise in the area.

Hardware-in-the-loop simulation for real-time software verification of an autonomous underwater robot

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a software engineering procedure for real-time software development and verification of an autonomous underwater robotic system. High performance and robust software are one of the requirements of autonomous systems design. A simple error in the software can easily lead to a catastrophic failure in a complex system. Then, a systematic procedure is presented for this purpose. Design/methodology/approach This paper utilizes software engineering tools and hardware-inthe-loop (HIL) simulations for real-time system design of an autonomous underwater robot. Findings In this paper, the architecture of the system is extracted. Then, using software engineering techniques a suitable structure for control software is presented. Considering the desirable targets of the robot, suitable algorithms and functions are developed. After the development stage, proving the real-time performance of the software is disclosed. Originality/value A suitable approach for analyzing the real-time performance is presented. This approach is implemented using HIL simulations. The developed structure is applicable to other autonomous systems.

Exploration for a new management model of quota payment for specific diseases

Objective The policy of quota payment for specific diseases has been carried out at the hospital for several years, yet proven a failure. This paper aims at searching for a new way of management. Methods Since 2013, attempts have been made for classification of medical costs and the quota setting for specific diseases, and for development of a real-time supervision software for classification of disease-specific costs. The attempts prove a success with a new model for management of quota management for specific diseases. Results This practice has proved to be effective in 2014, and used in other likewise diseases, which has been embraced by administrators of medical insurance sector. Conclusion This model proves useful for reducing inpatient expenses and regulating medical behaviors. but also shorten the average hospitalization days, improve the satisfaction of patient. The method of management control can be expanded and imitated. Key words: Medical insurance; Quota payment; Classified cost management

An Experimental Set-Up for Navigated-Contrast-Agent and Radiation Sparing Endovascular Aortic Repair (Nav-CARS EVAR)

Over the last decade endovascular stenting of aortic aneurysm (EVAR) has been developed from single centre experiences to a standard procedure. With increasing clinical expertise and medical technology advances treatment of even complex aneurysms are feasible by endovascular methods. One integral part for the success of this minimally invasive procedure is innovative and improved vascular imaging to generate exact measurements and correct placement of stent prosthesis. One of the greatest difficulty in learning and performing this endovascular therapy is the fact that the three-dimensional vascular tree has to be overlaid with the two-dimensional angiographic scene by the vascular surgeon. We report the development of real-time navigation software, which allows a three-dimensional endoluminal view of the vascular system during an EVAR procedure in patients with infrarenal aortic aneurysm. We used the preoperative planning CT angiography for three-dimensional reconstruction of aortic anatomy by volume-rendered segmentation. At the beginning of the intervention the relevant landmarks are matched in real-time with the two-dimensional angiographic scene. During the intervention the software continously registers the position of the guide-wire or the stent. An additional 3D-screen shows the generated endoluminal view during the whole intervention in real-time. We examined the combination of hardware and software components including complex image registration and fibre optic sensor technology (fibre-bragg navigation) with integration in stent graft introducer sheaths using patient-specific vascular phantoms in an experimental setting. From a technical point of view the feasibility of fibre-Bragg navigation has been proven in our experimental setting with patient-based vascular models. Three-dimensional preoperative planning including registration and simulation of virtual angioscopy in real time are realised. The aim of the Nav-CARS-EVAR concept is reduction of contrast medium and radiation dose by a three-dimensional navigation during the EVAR procedure. To implement fibre-Bragg navigation further experimental studies are necessary to verify accuracy before clinical application.

Correct and Cost-efficient Development of Control Systems Based on Model Integration

The increasing demands on functionality and quality of the software in control systems are in contradiction with the increasingly shorter deadlines for its development and insufficient budget. The majority of software errors occurs in the early phases of its development, but is detected in later phases of testing. Later identified errors lead to extremely high costs for their removal. To overcome these drawbacks, new approaches for development of real-time software are necessary. The main objective of this paper is to present a framework for model-driven development of control systems based on UML and reinforced with additional opportunities for an early analysis and verification of the models. For this purpose an approach for integrating UML state machine and timed automata models has been developed and used. The integration is achieved through model transformation, based on meta-models and the transformation language ATL, plug-in in Eclipse platform. The proposed approach is illustrated with a simple example for discrete-event control of air compressor system. Finally, some conclusions are made.

PS218. Plasma and Patterning: The New Focus for the Development of Nanocomposite Vascular Grafts

Introduction: Over the last decade, interventional endovascular stenting of aortic aneurysm has been developed from single center experiences to a standard procedure in many countries. One integral part for the success of this minimally-invasive procedure is innovative and improved vascular imaging. One of the most difficulty in learning and performing this interventional therapy is the fact, that the three-dimensional vascular tree has to be overlain with the two-dimensional angiographic scene by the vascular surgeon. Methods: We report the development of real-time navigation software, which allows a three-dimensional endoluminal view of the vascular system during an EVARprocedure in patients with infrarenal aortic aneurysm. Even in patients with complex anatomy, the surgeon or the interventionalist achieves an accurate option of spatial perception concerning the current vascular anatomy, e.g. the position of the guide-wire. We analyzed patients with an infra-renal aortic aneurysm in which the planning CT-Scans were volumerendered. At the beginning of the intervention the relevant landmarks were matched in real-time with the twodimensional angiographic scene. During intervention the software continuously registers the position of the guidewire or the stent. An additional 3d-screen shows the generated endoluminal view during the whole intervention in real-time. Results: Our preliminary results of navigated endoluminal virtual angioscopy are promising. The “Virtual angioscope” may improve intraoperative visualization, placement of guide-wires and stents. It may reduce the amount of contrast agents and exposure to x-Rays. The prototype also offers the possibility of intervention planning and simulation which may lead to a reduced learning curve and therefore patient safety. Conclusion: Not only for pre-interventional simulation, even in training of inexperienced surgeons or interventionalists, our 3D navigation system may offer better visualization in complex endoluminal aortic procedures. Plasma and Patterning: The New Focus for the Development of Nanocomposite Vascular Grafts

Prototype of a 3D-navigation System for Interventional Therapy of Aortic Aneurysms

Introduction: Over the last decade, interventional endovascular stenting of aortic aneurysm has been developed from single center experiences to a standard procedure in many countries. One integral part for the success of this minimally-invasive procedure is innovative and improved vascular imaging. One of the most difficulty in learning and performing this interventional therapy is the fact, that the three-dimensional vascular tree has to be overlain with the two-dimensional angiographic scene by the vascular surgeon. Methods: We report the development of real-time navigation software, which allows a three-dimensional endoluminal view of the vascular system during an EVARprocedure in patients with infrarenal aortic aneurysm. Even in patients with complex anatomy, the surgeon or the interventionalist achieves an accurate option of spatial perception concerning the current vascular anatomy, e.g. the position of the guide-wire. We analyzed patients with an infra-renal aortic aneurysm in which the planning CT-Scans were volumerendered. At the beginning of the intervention the relevant landmarks were matched in real-time with the twodimensional angiographic scene. During intervention the software continuously registers the position of the guidewire or the stent. An additional 3d-screen shows the generated endoluminal view during the whole intervention in real-time. Results: Our preliminary results of navigated endoluminal virtual angioscopy are promising. The “Virtual angioscope” may improve intraoperative visualization, placement of guide-wires and stents. It may reduce the amount of contrast agents and exposure to x-Rays. The prototype also offers the possibility of intervention planning and simulation which may lead to a reduced learning curve and therefore patient safety. Conclusion: Not only for pre-interventional simulation, even in training of inexperienced surgeons or interventionalists, our 3D navigation system may offer better visualization in complex endoluminal aortic procedures. Plasma and Patterning: The New Focus for the Development of Nanocomposite Vascular Grafts

Requirements-based execution time prediction of a partitioned real-time system using I/O and SLOC estimates

Predicting computer processing requirements of a completed system early in the design and development lifecycle of that system is challenging. Software requirements and avionic or hardware systems often mature in parallel, and, in early stages of design, uncertainty over processing requirements makes determination of processing architecture difficult. Later in the design process, as details become finalized and prototypes are developed, estimations become increasingly more accurate. However, waiting until later in the lifecycle to make architectural changes causes those changes to be more costly and introduces schedule and technical risks. The sooner processing needs are determined and the corresponding system architecture is established, the more easily an appropriate processing platform can be incorporated into the design. This paper describes a novel approach for estimating processor utilization early in the lifecycle of a large, real-time software development project: NASA's Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle flight software. The approach uses available requirements documentation as a basis of the estimate and decouples input/output (I/O)- and computation-based processing by estimating each separately then combining the results. This approach is unique because it can be used to estimate the execution time for unwritten or partially specified software, in addition to giving a specific contribution for I/O. The methodology for estimating I/O processing is based on quantifying data, while the methodology for estimating algorithmic processing is based on approximated code size. Results can be used as an aid to predict target processor types and quantities, allocate software to processors, predict communication bandwidth utilization, and manage processor margins.

Low Cost Multisensor Kinematic Positioning and Navigation System with Linux/RTAI

Despite its popularity, the development of an embedded real-time multisensor kinematic positioning and navigation system discourages many researchers and developers due to its complicated hardware environment setup and time consuming device driver development. To address these issues, this paper proposed a multisensor kinematic positioning and navigation system built on Linux with Real Time Application Interface (RTAI), which can be constructed in a fast and economical manner upon popular hardware platforms. The authors designed, developed, evaluated and validated the application of Linux/RTAI in the proposed system for the integration of the low cost MEMS IMU and OEM GPS sensors. The developed system with Linux/RTAI as the core of a direct geo-referencing system provides not only an excellent hard real-time performance but also the conveniences for sensor hardware integration and real-time software development. A software framework is proposed in this paper for a universal kinematic positioning and navigation system with loosely-coupled integration architecture. In addition, general strategies of sensor time synchronization in a multisensor system are also discussed. The success of the loosely-coupled GPS-aided inertial navigation Kalman filter is represented via post-processed solutions from road tests.

Magnet Control and Monitoring System

The magnet control and monitoring system is one of the crucial parts for reliable and safe operation of the LNCMI (Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses) high field resistive magnets (up to 35 T), the 24 MW power supply and the cooling system. To take advantage of latest electronic components and real-time software, we decided to upgrade the entire system: network infrastructure, user consol, magnet safety system and power supply controller. In our contribution we will present the new setup. Our new control system is an assembly of in-house electronic and real-time software development. The new electronic components consist of different converters providing enhanced resolution (up to 24 bits) for a more precise measure of the field. We also developed tailored magnet coil voltage conditioning device used by the safety system. Software developments now provide enhanced process control between the different parts by using a real-time operating system. It also simplifies the network used to remotely control the power supply. In the new solution, it is based on RS485 communication over optical fiber. Finally we will show that the choice of Linux, customized with the real-time patch RTAI, is the main key to bring efficiency and flexibility for further extensions.

Performance Testing of Composite Web-Service with Aspect-Based WS-BPEL Extension

The advance in Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and web services has led to the development of new types of a system in which heterogeneous service components can connect and compose to solve a complex business problem. In the SOA, even though these service components are valid in their functionality, there is a need to test their behaviors when those services are composited. In recent years, WS-BPEL has received a wide acceptance as a means of integrating distributed service components. To test the composite service, the existing testing techniques have been focused on the functional features based on the WS-BPEL process. However as SOA approach is applying to real-time software development, the performance of composite service becomes one of important issues. This paper proposes a technique to the performance testing of a composite service with WS-BPEL extension which combined with the concept of aspect. Our WS-BPEL extension has been made towards annotating aspect component which is measuring the response time of the composite service. This paper also explains the procedure of performance testing with on-line transaction system. Our technique can apply to choose an adequate component in service composition with considering the performance among several candidate web service components.