Master thesis project abstract

In this project, an information-centric approach to data management for embedded real-time systems is to be constructed. By integrating a real-time database management system (RTDBMS) as an integral part of a component framework, data management can become naturally introduced into the design and architecture of control-systems, and their development processes. So far, research within the RTDBMS area mainly has focused on run-time mechanisms, such as concurrency-control, temporal consistency, overload management, and transaction scheduling. In our experience, little research on how to integrate and introduce data management, through RTDBMSs, in real-time systems has been performed. Our belief is that in order for real-time database management systems to be useful in practice, work within this area is necessary. An important question related to this is:

What tools are needed to not only allow data modeling, but also to capture real-time requirements so that a useful design view is achieved?

This project aims to merge previous results from (i) the SAVE project, in which the SAVE component model (SaveCCM) was developed, and (ii) the COMET project, in which an RTDBMS suitable for embedded real-time systems was developed. More specifically, the following results are expected as outcomes of this project:

1. An architectural design tool suited for SaveCCM. This tool, which is based upon the current XML-based description language developed for SaveCCM, should enable the architect to create and visualize system designs and architectures.
2. A data modeling tool suited for COMET RTDBMS. This tool should also be based upon an XML-based description language and should enable the database designer to model both the database schema as well as pre-compiled queries.
3. Develop methods on how the two tools could be combined into an information-centric approach, in which both real-time and embedded properties are considered, e.g., data freshness, memory requirements, worst case execution time etc.