“A New Programming Model for Dependable Adaptive Real-Time Applications”

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Pedro Martins, Paulo Sousa, António Casimiro, Paulo Veríssimo

IEEE Distributed Systems Online, vol. 6, no. 5, 2005., May 2005.

Abstract: The CORTEX (Cooperating Real-time Sentient Objects: Architecture and Experimental Evaluation) project focuses on developing dependable real-time applications in environments of uncertain synchrony. Developed in the context of the CORTEX project, this innovative programming model is based on fulfilling the coverage stability and no-contamination predicates. You can apply it to construct applications that have several degrees of dependability, using the time-elastic, time-safe, and fail-safe programming styles or combinations thereof. However, this requires understanding the effects of timing failures and of course being able to detect and recover from them. To do that, the CORTEX architecture relies on the existence of a timeliness wormhole, called Timely Computing Base. This article demonstrates the practical value of the programming model, in which the wormhole concept plays the role of an architectural enabler. A video demo presents two complementary facets: an emulation framework illustrates the effectiveness of the several concepts from a practical, yet rigorous, perspective; and, a simulation demonstrates the programming model's relevance and usefulness in a potentially real scenario.