Minimal Operating System Research Articles

Toward Long-Term and Archivable Reproducibility

Analysis pipelines commonly use high-level technologies that are popular when created, but are unlikely to be readable, executable, or sustainable in the long term. A set of criteria is introduced to address this problem: completeness (no execution requirement beyond a minimal Unix-like operating system, no administrator privileges, no network connection, and storage primarily in plain text); modular design; minimal complexity; scalability; verifiable inputs and outputs; version control; linking analysis with narrative; and free and open-source software. As a proof of concept, we introduce “Maneage” (managing data lineage), enabling cheap archiving, provenance extraction, and peer verification that has been tested in several research publications. We show that longevity is a realistic requirement that does not sacrifice immediate or short-term reproducibility. The caveats (with proposed solutions) are then discussed and we conclude with the benefits for the various stakeholders. This article is itself a Maneage'd project (project commit 313db0b). Appendices-Two comprehensive appendices that review the longevity of existing solutions are available as supplementary “Web extras,” which are available in the IEEE Computer Society Digital Library at http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MCSE.2021.3072860. Reproducibility-All products available in zenodo.4913277, the Git history of this paper's source is at git.maneage.org/paper-concept.git, which is also archived in Software Heritage Heritage: swh:1:dir:33fea87068c1612daf011f161b97787b9a0df39f. Clicking on the SWHIDs in the digital format will provide more “context” for same content.

Local operator system structures and their tensor products

We introduce and explore the theory of tensor products in the category of local operator systems. Analogous to minimal operator system OMIN and maximal operator system OMAX, minimal and maximal local operator system structures LOMIN and LOMAX, respectively, are also discussed.

Real Time Operating System Options in Connected Embedded Equipment for Distributed Data Acquisition

Abstract The purpose of the work described in this paper is to compare more configurations belonging to portables real-time operating systems for embedded devices based on Raspberry Pi board. The developed application in this work can monitor the status in a greenhouse: irrigation, heating, ventilation, humidification, closing/opening panels etc. following weather conditions. Our target is to choose an efficient, minimal operating system optimized for the desired application. Other targets are high flexibility, optimal modularity, high readability and maintainability of the source code.

A Sensor Web Architecture for Integrating Smart Oceanographic Sensors Into the Semantic Sensor Web

Effective ocean and coastal data management are needed to manage marine ecosystem health. Past ocean and coastal data management systems were often very specific to a particular application and region, but this focused approach often lacks real-time data and sharing/interoperating capability. The challenge for the ocean observing community is to devise standards and practices that enable integration of data from sensors across devices, manufacturers, users, and domains to enable new types of applications and services that facilitate much more comprehensive understanding and analyses of marine ecosystem. A given kind of sensor may be deployed on various platforms such as floats, gliders or moorings, and thus must be integrated with different operation, and data management systems. Simplifying the integration process in existing or newly established observing systems would benefit system operators and is important for the broader application of diverse sensors. This paper describes a geospatial “sensor web” architecture developed by the “NeXOS” project for ocean and coastal data management, based on the concepts of spatial data infrastructure and the Sensor Web Enablement framework of the Open Geospatial Consortium. This approach reduces the effort to propagate data from deployed sensors to users. To support the realization of the proposed Next generation Ocean Sensors (NeXOS) architecture, hardware and software specifications for a Smart Electronic Interface for Sensors and Instruments (SEISI) are described. SEISI specifies small lower-power electronics, minimal operating system, and standards-basedresearch software to enable web-based sharing, discovery, exchange, and processing of sensor observations as well as operation of sensor devices. An experimental scenario is presented in which sensor data from a low-power glider with low-bandwidth intermittent satellite communications is integrated into the geospatial sensor web using the NeXOS architecture.

Inductive limits in the operator system and related categories

We present a systematic development of inductive limits in the categories of ordered *-vector spaces, Archimedean order unit spaces, matrix ordered spaces, operator systems and operator C*-systems. We show that the inductive limit intertwines the operation of passing to the maximal operator system structure of an Archimedean order unit space, and that the same holds true for the minimal operator system structure if the connecting maps are complete order embeddings. We prove that the inductive limit commutes with the operation of taking the maximal tensor product with another operator system, and establish analogous results for injective functorial tensor products provided the connecting maps are complete order embeddings. We identify the inductive limit of quotient operator systems as a quotient of the inductive limit, in case the involved kernels are completely biproximinal. We describe the inductive limit of graph operator systems as operator systems of topological graphs, show that two such operator systems are completely order isomorphic if and only if their underlying graphs are isomorphic, identify the C*-envelope of such an operator system, and prove a version of Glimm's Theorem on the isomorphism of UHF algebras in the category of operator systems.

ADOK

Most embedded software is currently developed using the C programming language, even though its low level of abstraction requires a lot of effort to the programmer. The C++ language is a better choice because: it raises the level of abstraction; it is strongly typed, so it prevents many common programming mistakes; it can be made as efficient as C through fine-grained customisation of memory mechanisms; it can be easily adapted to domain-specific needs. In addition, recent compilers have grown in maturity and performance, and the new standard considerably improves the language by introducing new concepts and an easier syntax. In this paper we present ADOK, a minimal Real-Time Operating System entirely written in C++ with the exception of a few lines of assembler code. It directly offers a C++ interface to the developer, and it provides a flexible scheduling framework which allows the developer to customise the scheduling to its needs. In particular, we implement a two-level scheduler based on Earliest Deadline First, the Stack Resource Policy protocol for sharing resources and support for mode changes. We demonstrate through examples and a small case-study that ADOK can substantially improve productivity without sacrificing on performance.

A Conversation with J. Craig Venter, PhD

A Conversation with J. Craig Venter, PhD

Completely positive linear maps on maximal and minimal operator system structures

Completely positive linear maps on maximal and minimal operator system structures

Predictable Cloud Computing

The standard tools for cloud computing — processor and network virtualization — make it difficult to achieve dependability, both in terms of real time operations and fault tolerance. Virtualization multiplexes virtual resources onto physical ones, typically by time division or statistical multiplexing. Time, in the virtual machine, is therefore as virtual as the machine itself. And fault tolerance is difficult to achieve when redundancy and independent failure in the virtual environment do not necessarily map to those properties in the physical environment. Virtualization adds a level of indirection that creates overhead, and makes it all but impossible to achieve predictable performance. Osprey uses an alternative to virtualization that achieves the same goals of scalability and flexibility but carries neither the overhead of virtualization, nor the restrictions on dependability. The result is a programming environment that achieves most of the compatibility offered by traditional virtualization efforts and provides much better and much more predictable performance. One technique we use is called Library OS, which stems from high-performance computing. The technique consists of linking applications with a library that implements most services normally provided by the operating system, creating an application that can run practically stand alone, or at least with a very minimal operating system. The Library OS approach moves the boundary between application and operating system down to a level where interactions with the operating system consist of sending/receiving messages (e.g., network packets) and scheduling resources (processor, memory, network bandwidth, and device access). These interactions, as we demonstrate, form a relatively weak bond between an application and the particular instance of the operating system on which it runs — one that can be broken and re-established elsewhere. In fact, we make sure this is the case. Legacy applications that cannot be recompiled or relinked can make use of a Library OS server that runs as a tandem process along with the legacy application processes. System calls from the legacy process are catapulted into the Library OS server which executes them. Applications can still migrate, taking their server process along with them. © 2012 Alcatel-Lucent.

Possibly non-unital operator system structures on a possibly non-unital function system

In this paper, we first give the definition of possibly non-unital function system, which is a characterization of the self-adjoint subspace of the space of continuous functions on a compact Hausdorff space with the induced order and norm structure. Similar to operator system case, we define the unitalization of a possibly non-unital function system. Then we construct two possibly non-unital operator system structures on a given possibly non-unital function system, which are the analogues of minimal and maximal operator spaces on a normed space. These two structures have many interesting relations with the minimal and maximal operator system structures on a given function system.

Design and Performance of a Minimal Real-Time Operating System in a Safe Language: Experience with Java on the Sun SPOT

Real-time operating systems (RTOSes) are required to run for years without human intervention, and never fail. Safety is a concern when they control physical equipment. One area of real-time operating system (RTOS) research is looking at the question: can developing an RTOS in a safe language result in a system that an errant process cannot crash? In this paper, we examine the advantages and problems of writing an RTOS in a safe language, namely Java. Then we design, implement and measure the performance of a minimal RTOS to schedule processes as threads on a Sun SPOT micro-controller.

CernVM: Minimal maintenance approach to virtualization

CernVM is a virtual software appliance designed to support the development cycle and provide a runtime environment for the LHC experiments. It consists of three key components that differentiate it from more traditional virtual machines: a minimal Linux Operating System (OS), a specially tuned file system designed to deliver application software on demand, and contextualization tools that provide a means to easily customize and configure CernVM instances for different tasks and user communities. In this contribution we briefly describe the most important use cases for virtualization in High Energy Physics (HEP), CernVM key components and discuss how end-to-end systems corresponding to these use cases can be realized using CernVM.

The super operator system structures and their applications in quantum entanglement theory

An operator system S with unit e, can be viewed as an Archimedean order unit space ( S , S + , e ) . Using this Archimedean order unit space, for a fixed k ∈ N we construct a super k-minimal operator system OMIN k ( S ) and a super k-maximal operator system OMAX k ( S ) , which are the general versions of the minimal operator system OMIN ( S ) and the maximal operator system OMAX ( S ) introduced recently, such that for k = 1 we obtain the equality, respectively. We develop some of the key properties of these super operator systems and make some progress on characterizing when an operator system S is completely boundedly isomorphic to either OMIN k ( S ) or to OMAX k ( S ) . Then we apply these concepts to the study of k-partially entanglement breaking maps. We prove that for matrix algebras a linear map is completely positive from OMIN k ( M n ) to OMAX k ( M m ) for some fixed k ⩽ min ( n , m ) if and only if it is a k-partially entanglement breaking map.

Operator system structures on ordered spaces

Given an Archimedean order unit space (V, V+, e), we construct a minimal operator system OMIN(V) and a maximal operator system OMAX(V), which are the analogues of the minimal and maximal operator spaces of a normed space. We develop some of the key properties of these operator systems and make some progress on characterizing when an operator system 𝒮 is completely boundedly isomorphic to either OMIN(𝒮) or to OMAX(𝒮). We then apply these concepts to the study of entanglement breaking maps. We prove that for matrix algebras a linear map is completely positive from OMIN(Mn) to OMAX(Mm) if and only if it is entanglement breaking.

Chameleon: Application-Level Power Management

In this paper, we present Chameleon an application-level power management approach for reducing energy consumption in mobile processors. By using application domain knowledge, as opposed to OS-level or hardware-level inferred knowledge, Chameleon can substantially reduce CPU energy consumption. By exporting the energy management to user-space, designers can design more flexible and easily portable algorithms and systems, and use multiple energy management policies simultaneously. Specifically, we propose a minimal operating system interface that applications use to obtain global knowledge from the kernel in order to make local decisions. We consider three classes of applications soft real-time, interactive and batch and design user level power management strategies for representative applications such as a movie player, a word processor, a web browser, and a batch compiler. Our experiments show that, compared to the traditional system-wide CPU voltage scaling approaches, Chameleon can achieve up to 32-50% energy savings while delivering comparable or better performance to applications. Similarly, Chameleon extracts 9-41% more energy when compared to Grace OS, which uses some application knowledge but operates within the kernel. Further, Chameleon imposes minimal overhead and is effective at scheduling concurrent applications with diverse energy needs.

Internet appliances struggle for acceptance

Internet appliances were conceived as simpler cousins of the PC with no hard drive and a minimal operating system that permitted almost instant bootup. Consumers could access their applications, such as e-mail and appointment calendars, via a Web browser. The simple browser interface was expected to make appliances more popular with technophobes. The paper discusses the three primary types of Internet appliances and their marketplace performance.

Early Experience with an Implementation of the POSIX.13 Minimal Real-Time Operating System for Embedded Applications

Abstract 1 1 This work has been funded by the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología of the Spanish Government under grant TIC99-1043-C03-03 Although the real-time POSIX operating system standards define system services for large systems, standard subsets have been defined that allow small implementations for embedded systems. In this paper we present the architecture and internal details of an implementation of the standardized POSIX Minimal Realtime System profile. This implementation constitutes a kernel for high-efficiency small embedded systems, under which applications with hard-real time requirements can be built.

TOP/PDT: a toolkit for the development of communication protocols

TOP/PDT, a toolkit for the development and the simulation of communication protocols, is presented. A protocol is described by a high-level language, derived from SDL, and named PDL, short for protocol description language. A compiler translates PDL programs into C programs; these are then compiled and linked using the utilities of the host operating system. TOP/PDT is an open environment: to add functionalities or to optimize a protocol, users can add their own functions, usually written in C, to the existing function library. The validation of the protocol is done by simulation. PDL allows the characterization of the data link(s) used to transmit and provides a set of measurement functions to evaluate the protocol performance. The modular structure of TOP/PDT and the use of the C programming language make it easily portable. The executable program generated using TOP/PDT can also run without a host operating system, since the PDT kernel provides a minimal operating system able to handle an unlimited number of processes and ensures their mutual exclusion in the access to shared data. >

Operating experience with a VMEbus multiprocessor system for data acquisition and reduction in nuclear physics

Summary form only given, as follows. A multiprocessor system based on commercially available VMEbus components has been developed for the acquisition and reduction of event-mode data in nuclear physics experiments. The system contains seven 68000 CPUs and 14 Mbyte of memory. A minimal operating system handles data transfer and task allocation, and a compiler for a specially designed event analysis language produces code for the processors. The system has been in operation for four years at the University of Pennsylvania Tandem Accelerator Laboratory. Computation rates over three times that of a MicroVAX II have been achieved at a fraction of the cost. The use of WORM optical disks for event recording allows the processing of gigabyte data sets without operator intervention. A more powerful system is being planned which will make use of recently developed RISC (reduced instruction set computer) processors to obtain an order of magnitude increase in computing power per node.

CS4: The Design and Implementation of a Microcomputer System for the Control of a Submerged-Arc Furnace

A case study is presented on the design and implementation of a microcomputer system that is used to control a 48MVA submerged-arc ferrochromium furnace. The electrical circuit of the furnace and the principles on which the control is based are discussed. The proposed control algorithm is explained, and the use of a minicomputer to verify this algorithm is outlined. The development of a prototype unit based upon microprocessor technology is discussed, the choice of a microcomputer being explained, the configuration of the hardware highlighted, and the tools and techniques for development of the software presented, especially those concerning the use of a minimal operating system. The behaviour in practice of the prototype of the electrode controller is covered briefly and future trends regarding the use of microcomputers in similar applications are discussed.