Real-time Embedded System Research Articles

Early Validation of Real-Time Systems by Model Execution

The late validation of temporal aspects is still today the great bottleneck in embedded real-time systems (ERTS) development. In this article, a twofold approach is presented to reduce this problem: to enhance the visibility of temporal aspects in the product through the use of the proper design notations and models, and to integrate these notations with tools that allow the validation in a stage previous to coding. Both tools and notations allow the early feedback of functional and timing behavior, provide automatic support for the validation, and reduce the conceptual distance between the system specification and its implementation.

Tools to engineer new technologies into applications

How will consumers, engineers, and businesses benefit from the latest computer technology? Technologists envision graphical, multimedia interfaces to the information highway, but technology like graphical user interfaces, multimedia, and groupware does not appear in applications by magic. Whether the target application is an information system, a consumer product, or a real-time embedded system, developers must expand their engineering environments to incorporate tools for new technologies. To win the race to market, suppliers must pursue various approaches to improve their engineering process. The authors explore these key aspects of development support for new applications: technology-specific tools, reuse, computer-aided software engineering, testing, and integrated development environments.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Peripheral handling techniques for the transputer

The transputer was originally targetted at embedded realtime systems. It contains a number of novel architectural features that must be accounted for when using the device. Presented here are some practical interfacing techniques, with examples in occam. The transputer introduces new scope for the development of reliable, distributed, fault tolerant systems. Some designs of this nature are discussed.

Some practical considerations regarding an ADT-obsessed design

The purpose of this paper is to convey some of the lessons learned during the development of the software of a real-time embedded system. The key concept in the design of the software was to use abstract data types to hide information even though the development environment was not entirely friendly to this concept.

A practical approach to developing real-time Ada programs for embedded systems

An important aspect of the development of real-time Ada programs is the interaction of the program with the real-target architecture. Many development systems run out of support once the object code has been generated. Developers are often left to find their own way when it comes to getting programs to work on the real-time embedded system. This paper describes a practical approach to developing real-time systems based on online support for building, loading and debugging Ada programs on real targets. The author has been involved in the development of a toolset which enables developers to load programs into the non-homogeneous target memories, and then run them at full speed under interactive control. Breakpoints, monitoring, profiling, and the display and modification of variables may all be achieved using symbolic references. The present toolset design has been extended to a full multiprocessor implementation which is currently under development.

Performance monitoring and evaluation of large embedded systems

This paper describes the rationale and design of an integrated set of software tools which havebeen implemented for use with a large real-time embedded system which is based on a distributed architecture. The tools include facilities to aid system-level program debugging, performance analysis and application-specific performance monitoring. Particular attention is paid to the user interface to the system and typical dialogue sequences are included.

Quality of the Software Development Process

The goal of Software Quality Assurance is to ensure that the software product meets the imposed quality requirements. In embedded real-time systems, such as power system operation control, the quality requirements on software are high and steadily increasing with the degree of computerization. A prerequisite for achieving the goal is the utilization of an efficient technology in the software development process. The paper discusses a model the software technology is based on. A set of functions necessary to carry out software development is defined. The model covers two aspects: the evolution of the product from zero functionality towards enhanced versions, and the tailoring of the product to the needs of a particular purchaser. Some tools supporting the model in current software development projects and the experience gained by their application are also discussed.