Abstract

International audience; Embedded systems have developed from single microcontrollers to networked sys-tems and are moving further on to large open systems. As an example, automotive electronics started as a single microcontroller for engine control to develop into a local network of 50 and more electronic control units connected via several network standards and gateways which are found in current cars. These networks will be ex-tended by open wireless car-to-car or car-to-infrastructure communication enabling completely new functionality, such as advanced driver assistance systems that report approaching cars that could cause an accident. Other examples are found in health-care, where patients are monitored at home connected to a hospital data base and monitoring system rather than staying in the hospital for that purpose, or in smart buildings where different control functions are integrated to minimize energy con-sumption and adapt consumption to the available energy, or in energy supply net-works that are optimized to include renewable energy production. In all these cases we observe a transition from local closed networks with a single systems integrator controlling all design aspects (such as an automotive manufacturer) to larger open networks with many independent functions and different integrators following differ-ent design objectives. The Internet plays an important role supporting that trend. Unlike closed networks with a defined topology, such systems change over the life-time of a system. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Traffic engineering encompasses a set of techniques that can be used to control the flow of traffic in data networks. We discuss several of those techniques that have been developed during the last few years. Some techniques are focused on pure IP networks while others have been designed with emerging technologies for scalable Quality of Service (QoS) such as Differentiated Services and MPLS in mind. We first discuss traffic engineering techniques inside a single domain. We show that by using a non-linear programming formulation of the traffic engineering problem it is possible to meet the requirements of demanding customer traffic, while optimising the use of network resources, through the means of an automated provisioning system. We also extend the functionality of the traffic engineering system through policies. In the following, we discuss the techniques that can be used to control the flow of packets between domains. First, we briefly describe interdomain routing and the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). Second, we summarise the characteristics of interdomain traffic based on measurements with two different Internet Service Providers. We show by simulations the limitations of several BGP-based traffic engineering techniques that are currently used on the Internet. Then, we discuss the utilisation of BGP to exchange QoS information between domains by using the QOS_NLRI attribute to allow BGP to select more optimum paths. Finally, we consider the multi-homing problem and analyse the current proposed IPv6 multi-homing solutions are analysed along with their impact on communication quality. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

This paper describes a method aiming to support the design of interactive-safety critical systems. The method proposes an original integration of approaches usually considered separately, such as task modelling and distributed cognition. The basic idea is that analysing task performance requires a clear understanding of the information needed to accomplish the task and how to derive such information from both internal cognitive representations and external representations provided by various types of artefacts. We also report on a first application of the method to a case study in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) domain. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Computer technology for communication has become an integral aspect of daily operation. The exponential growth of internet services with dynamic inquiries in such areas as manufacturing, business, air traffic control and mission critical systems demands that there be quick, reliable and safe use of services. Each service must contain QoS metrics to assure security, performance and accuracy. A new paradigm of resource management middleware techniques is in this paper presented which can provide QoS for dynamic, distributed real-time systems on Common Off The Shelf (COTS) operating systems. Accommodation of dynamic environments enables the middleware to carefully consider an efficient design of resource profiling, resource needs estimation, resource unification, and performance analysis (or compliant with schedulability analysis) infrastructure providing significant benefits for QoS management on COTS operating systems. First, the use of low-cost COTS systems is extended to real-time computing without changing the operating system. Further, experiments for response time analysis confirm that the worst-case analysis poorly utilizes computational resources. Finally, it is shown that the new method of middleware design employing scalability of software and hardware system can be easily applied to legacy systems to manage resources efficiently for quick, reliable services and accurate QoS. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

Making full use of the capabilities of the FPGA as an accelerator is difficult for non hardware experts, especially if partial reconfiguration is to be employed. One of the issues that arise is to physically implement modules into bounding boxes of minimum size for improving fragmentation cost and reconfiguration time. In this paper we present a method which automates the modules designing step, fulfilling module resource requirements and architectural FPGA constraints. We present a case study that shows how our automatic module implementation flow can be used to generate run-time reconfigurable bitstreams that are suited for stitching together processing pipelines directly from a Maxeler MaxJ HLS specification. This takes into consideration design alternatives, fragmentation, and routing failure mitigation strategies. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

International audience Intelligent vehicles refer currently to vehicles able to drive autonomously or able to provide pertinent information to the driver for safety, assistance and comfort. Cognitive cars are intelligent vehicles with additional capabilities like being able to collaborate with the driver in operating conditions. In this paper, a multi-agent system is used as a “digital butler” that does the interface between the driver and the machine. In order to test this approach, we consider an Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS) providing speed warnings when approaching dangerous areas. The system has been tested on an actual use case carried out with an experimental vehicle. We report some illustrative collaboration between the driver and the machine Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

This report presents the results of an investigation into two methods of using the natural gas pipeline as a communication medium. The work addressed the need to develop secure system monitoring and control techniques between the field and control centers and to robotic devices in the pipeline. In the first method, the pipeline was treated as a microwave waveguide. In the second method, the pipe was treated as a leaky feeder or a multi-ground neutral and the signal was directly injected onto the metal pipe. These methods were tested on existing pipeline loops at UMR and Batelle. The results reported in this report indicate the feasibility of both methods. In addition, a few suitable communication link protocols for this network were analyzed. Document type: Report

Abstract

Several decades ago, computer control systems known as Electric Control Units (ECUs) were introduced to the automotive industry. Mechanical hardware units have since then increasingly been replaced by computer controlled systems to manage complex tasks such as airbag, ABS, cruise control and so forth. This has lead to a massive increase of software functions and data which all needs to be managed. There are several tools and techniques for this, however, current tools and techniques for developing real-time embedded system are mostly focusing on software functions, not data. Those tools do not fully support developers to manage run-time data at design time. Furthermore, current tools do not focus on visualization of relationship among data items in the system. This thesis is a part of previous work named the Data Entity approach which prioritizes data management at the top level of development life cycle. Our main contribution is a tool that introduces a new way to intuitively explore run-time data items, which are produced and consumed by software components, utilized in the entire system. As a consequence, developers will achieve a better understanding of utilization of data items in the software system. This approach enables developers and system architects to avoid redundant data as well as finding and removing stale data from the system. The tool also allows us to analyze conflicts regarding run-time data items that might occur between software components at design time. A Data-Entity Approach for Component-Based Real-Time Embedded Systems Developmen