Analysis and Synthesis of Distributed Real-Time Embedded Systems


Book Description

Embedded computer systems are now everywhere: from alarm clocks to PDAs, from mobile phones to cars, almost all the devices we use are controlled by embedded computers. An important class of embedded computer systems is that of hard real-time systems, which have to fulfill strict timing requirements. As real-time systems become more complex, they are often implemented using distributed heterogeneous architectures. Analysis and Synthesis of Distributed Real-Time Embedded Systems addresses the design of real-time applications implemented using distributed heterogeneous architectures. The systems are heterogeneous not only in terms of hardware components, but also in terms of communication protocols and scheduling policies. Regarding this last aspect, time-driven and event-driven systems, as well as a combination of the two, are considered. Such systems are used in many application areas like automotive electronics, real-time multimedia, avionics, medical equipment, and factory systems. The proposed analysis and synthesis techniques derive optimized implementations that fulfill the imposed design constraints. An important part of the implementation process is the synthesis of the communication infrastructure, which has a significant impact on the overall system performance and cost. Analysis and Synthesis of Distributed Real-Time Embedded Systems considers the mapping and scheduling tasks within an incremental design process. To reduce the time-to-market of products, the design of real-time systems seldom starts from scratch. Typically, designers start from an already existing system, running certain applications, and the design problem is to implement new functionality on top of this system. Supporting such an incremental design process provides a high degree of flexibility, and can result in important reductions of design costs. STRONGAnalysis and Synthesis of Distributed Real-Time Embedded Systems will be of interest to advanced undergraduates, graduate students, researchers and designers involved in the field of embedded systems.




Real-Time Systems


Book Description

"This book is a comprehensive text for the design of safety critical, hard real-time embedded systems. It offers a splendid example for the balanced, integrated treatment of systems and software engineering, helping readers tackle the hardest problems of advanced real-time system design, such as determinism, compositionality, timing and fault management. This book is an essential reading for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in a wide range of disciplines impacted by embedded computing and software. Its conceptual clarity, the style of explanations and the examples make the abstract concepts accessible for a wide audience." Janos Sztipanovits, Director E. Bronson Ingram Distinguished Professor of Engineering Institute for Software Integrated Systems Vanderbilt University Real-Time Systems focuses on hard real-time systems, which are computing systems that must meet their temporal specification in all anticipated load and fault scenarios. The book stresses the system aspects of distributed real-time applications, treating the issues of real-time, distribution and fault-tolerance from an integral point of view. A unique cross-fertilization of ideas and concepts between the academic and industrial worlds has led to the inclusion of many insightful examples from industry to explain the fundamental scientific concepts in a real-world setting. Compared to the Second Edition, new developments in communication standards for time-sensitive networks, such as TSN and Time-Triggered Ethernet are addressed. Furthermore, this edition includes a new chapter on real-time aspects in cloud and fog computing. The book is written as a standard textbook for a high-level undergraduate or graduate course on real-time embedded systems or cyber-physical systems. Its practical approach to solving real-time problems, along with numerous summary exercises, makes it an excellent choice for researchers and practitioners alike.




Distributed and Parallel Embedded Systems


Book Description

Embedded systems are becoming one of the major driving forces in computer science. Furthermore, it is the impact of embedded information technology that dictates the pace in most engineering domains. Nearly all technical products above a certain level of complexity are not only controlled but increasingly even dominated by their embedded computer systems. Traditionally, such embedded control systems have been implemented in a monolithic, centralized way. Recently, distributed solutions are gaining increasing importance. In this approach, the control task is carried out by a number of controllers distributed over the entire system and connected by some interconnect network, like fieldbuses. Such a distributed embedded system may consist of a few controllers up to several hundred, as in today's top-range automobiles. Distribution and parallelism in embedded systems design increase the engineering challenges and require new development methods and tools. This book is the result of the International Workshop on Distributed and Parallel Embedded Systems (DIPES'98), organized by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Groups 10.3 (Concurrent Systems) and 10.5 (Design and Engineering of Electronic Systems). The workshop took place in October 1998 in Schloss Eringerfeld, near Paderborn, Germany, and the resulting book reflects the most recent points of view of experts from Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and the USA. The book is organized in six chapters: `Formalisms for Embedded System Design': IP-based system design and various approaches to multi-language formalisms. `Synthesis from Synchronous/Asynchronous Specification': Synthesis techniques based on Message Sequence Charts (MSC), StateCharts, and Predicate/Transition Nets. `Partitioning and Load-Balancing': Application in simulation models and target systems. `Verification and Validation': Formal techniques for precise verification and more pragmatic approaches to validation. `Design Environments' for distributed embedded systems and their impact on the industrial state of the art. `Object Oriented Approaches': Impact of OO-techniques on distributed embedded systems. £/LIST£ This volume will be essential reading for computer science researchers and application developers.




An Analysis-Based Approach to Composition of Distributed Embedded Systems


Book Description

The growing complexity in the functionality and system architecture of embedded systems has motivated designers to raise the level of abstraction by composing the system with a mix of reusable and system-specific components. Currently these components assume specific programming models that make them difficult to compose or retarget. The modal process model addresses the problem of control composition by separating the synchronization semantics from state unification and by supporting automatic synthesis of control communication onto distributed architectures. By avoiding over-specifying the behavior, the components can be made more composable and the designer can more easily choose the least expensive synchronization semantics for implementing the composition To help designers evaluate their choice, we propose a method for analyzing the properties of the composed system, including the detection of potential deadlock and live lock situations.




Composition of Embedded Systems. Scientific and Industrial Issues


Book Description

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 13th International Monterey Workshop on Composition of Embedded Systems: Scientific and Industrial Issues, held in Paris, France, in October 2006. The 12 revised full papers presented were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing and improvement from numerous submissions. The workshop discussed a range of challenges in embedded systems design that require further major advances in technology.




Optimal Design of Distributed Control and Embedded Systems


Book Description

Optimal Design of Distributed Control and Embedded Systems focuses on the design of special control and scheduling algorithms based on system structural properties as well as on analysis of the influence of induced time-delay on systems performances. It treats the optimal design of distributed and embedded control systems (DCESs) with respect to communication and calculation-resource constraints, quantization aspects, and potential time-delays induced by the associated communication and calculation model. Particular emphasis is put on optimal control signal scheduling based on the system state. In order to render this complex optimization problem feasible in real time, a time decomposition is based on periodicity induced by the static scheduling is operated. The authors present a co-design approach which subsumes the synthesis of the optimal control laws and the generation of an optimal schedule of control signals on real-time networks as well as the execution of control tasks on a single processor. The authors also operate a control structure modification or a control switching based on a thorough analysis of the influence of the induced time-delay system influence on stability and system performance in order to optimize DCES performance in case of calculation and communication resource limitations. Although the richness and variety of classes of DCES preclude a completely comprehensive treatment or a single “best” method of approaching them all, this co-design approach has the best chance of rendering this problem feasible and finding the optimal or some sub-optimal solution. The text is rounded out with references to such applications as car suspension and unmanned vehicles. Optimal Design of Distributed Control and Embedded Systems will be of most interest to academic researchers working on the mathematical theory of DCES but the wide range of environments in which they are used also promotes the relevance of the text for control practitioners working in the avionics, automotive, energy-production, space exploration and many other industries.




Modal Processes: Towards Enhanced Retargetability Through Control Composition of Distributed Embedded Systems


Book Description

To explore different points in the design space of an embedded system, it is important to be able to compose a design from reusable design components, and then map the resulting system description onto several possible target architectures with different partitionings of functionality. Today's specification models support composition styles that work well for data communication but not for control communication between concurrent processes to be mapped onto a distributed architecture. We propose a new retargetable system specification model that combines the best properties of process-based and hierarchical-FSM-based methods for modular composition of data and control. The model lends itself to automated synthesis of the run-time system for coordinating tasks on different processors in the system. The model and synthesis method are illustrated with several examples of embedded systems.




From Specification to Embedded Systems Application


Book Description

As almost no other technology, embedded systems is an essential element of many innovations in automotive engineering. New functions and improvements of already existing functions, as well as the compliance with traffic regulations and customer requirements, have only become possible by the increasing use of electronic systems, especially in the fields of driving, safety, reliability, and functionality. Along with the functionalities that increase in number and have to cooperate, the complexity of the entire system will increase. Synergy effects resulting from distributed application functionalities via several electronic control devies, exchanging information through the network brings about more complex system architectures with many different sub-networks, operating with different velocities and different protocol implementations. To manage the increasing complexity of these systems, a deterministic behaviour of the control units and the communication network must be provided for, in particular when dealing with a distributed functionality. From Specification to Embedded Systems Application documents recent approaches and results presented at the International Embedded Systems Symposium (IESS 2005), which was held in August 2005 in Manaus (Brazil) and sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). The topics which have been chosen for this working conference are very timely: design methodology, modeling, specification, software synthesis, power management, formal verification, testing, network, communication systems, distributed control systems, resource management and special aspects in system design.




Hardware-Software Co-Synthesis of Distributed Embedded Systems


Book Description

Embedded computer systems use both off-the-shelf microprocessors and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to implement specialized system functions. Examples include the electronic systems inside laser printers, cellular phones, microwave ovens, and an automobile anti-lock brake controller. Embedded computing is unique because it is a co-design problem - the hardware engine and application software architecture must be designed simultaneously. Hardware-Software Co-Synthesis of Distributed Embedded Systems proposes new techniques such as fixed-point iterations, phase adjustment, and separation analysis to efficiently estimate tight bounds on the delay required for a set of multi-rate processes preemptively scheduled on a real-time reactive distributed system. Based on the delay bounds, a gradient-search co-synthesis algorithm with new techniques such as sensitivity analysis, priority prediction, and idle- processing elements elimination are developed to select the number and types of processing elements in a distributed engine, and determine the allocation and scheduling of processes to processing elements. New communication modeling is also presented to analyze communication delay under interaction of computation and communication, allocate interprocessor communication links, and schedule communication. Hardware-Software Co-Synthesis of Distributed Embedded Systems is the first book to describe techniques for the design of distributed embedded systems, which have arbitrary hardware and software topologies. The book will be of interest to: academic researchers for personal libraries and advanced-topics courses in co-design as well as industrial designers who are building high-performance, real-time embedded systems with multiple processors.