1,211 research outputs found
An operating system for future aerospace vehicle computer systems
The requirements for future aerospace vehicle computer operating systems are examined in this paper. The computer architecture is assumed to be distributed with a local area network connecting the nodes. Each node is assumed to provide a specific functionality. The network provides for communication so that the overall tasks of the vehicle are accomplished. The O/S structure is based upon the concept of objects. The mechanisms for integrating node unique objects with node common objects in order to implement both the autonomy and the cooperation between nodes is developed. The requirements for time critical performance and reliability and recovery are discussed. Time critical performance impacts all parts of the distributed operating system; e.g., its structure, the functional design of its objects, the language structure, etc. Throughout the paper the tradeoffs - concurrency, language structure, object recovery, binding, file structure, communication protocol, programmer freedom, etc. - are considered to arrive at a feasible, maximum performance design. Reliability of the network system is considered. A parallel multipath bus structure is proposed for the control of delivery time for time critical messages. The architecture also supports immediate recovery for the time critical message system after a communication failure
Implementation of a production Ada project: The GRODY study
The use of the Ada language and design methodologies that encourage full use of its capabilities have a strong impact on all phases of the software development project life cycle. At the National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA/GSFC), the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) conducted an experiment in parallel development of two flight dynamics systems in FORTRAN and Ada. The differences observed during the implementation, unit testing, and integration phases of the two projects are described and the lessons learned during the implementation phase of the Ada development are outlined. Included are recommendations for future Ada development projects
Evolution of Ada technology in the flight dynamics area: Implementation/testing phase analysis
An analysis is presented of the software engineering issues related to the use of Ada for the implementation and system testing phases of four Ada projects developed in the flight dynamics area. These projects reflect an evolving understanding of more effective use of Ada features. In addition, the testing methodology used on these projects has changed substantially from that used on previous FORTRAN projects
Using the DiaSpec design language and compiler to develop robotics systems
A Sense/Compute/Control (SCC) application is one that interacts with the
physical environment. Such applications are pervasive in domains such as
building automation, assisted living, and autonomic computing. Developing an
SCC application is complex because: (1) the implementation must address both
the interaction with the environment and the application logic; (2) any
evolution in the environment must be reflected in the implementation of the
application; (3) correctness is essential, as effects on the physical
environment can have irreversible consequences. The SCC architectural pattern
and the DiaSpec domain-specific design language propose a framework to guide
the design of such applications. From a design description in DiaSpec, the
DiaSpec compiler is capable of generating a programming framework that guides
the developer in implementing the design and that provides runtime support. In
this paper, we report on an experiment using DiaSpec (both the design language
and compiler) to develop a standard robotics application. We discuss the
benefits and problems of using DiaSpec in a robotics setting and present some
changes that would make DiaSpec a better framework in this setting.Comment: DSLRob'11: Domain-Specific Languages and models for ROBotic systems
(2011
REDIR: Automated Static Detection of Obfuscated Anti-Debugging Techniques
Reverse Code Engineering (RCE) to detect anti-debugging techniques in software is a very difficult task. Code obfuscation is an anti-debugging technique makes detection even more challenging. The Rule Engine Detection by Intermediate Representation (REDIR) system for automated static detection of obfuscated anti-debugging techniques is a prototype designed to help the RCE analyst improve performance through this tedious task. Three tenets form the REDIR foundation. First, Intermediate Representation (IR) improves the analyzability of binary programs by reducing a large instruction set down to a handful of semantically equivalent statements. Next, an Expert System (ES) rule-engine searches the IR and initiates a sensemaking process for anti-debugging technique detection. Finally, an IR analysis process confirms the presence of an anti-debug technique. The REDIR system is implemented as a debugger plug-in. Within the debugger, REDIR interacts with a program in the disassembly view. Debugger users can instantly highlight anti-debugging techniques and determine if the presence of a debugger will cause a program to take a conditional jump or fall through to the next instruction
Interactive ontology debugging: two query strategies for efficient fault localization
Effective debugging of ontologies is an important prerequisite for their
broad application, especially in areas that rely on everyday users to create
and maintain knowledge bases, such as the Semantic Web. In such systems
ontologies capture formalized vocabularies of terms shared by its users.
However in many cases users have different local views of the domain, i.e. of
the context in which a given term is used. Inappropriate usage of terms
together with natural complications when formulating and understanding logical
descriptions may result in faulty ontologies. Recent ontology debugging
approaches use diagnosis methods to identify causes of the faults. In most
debugging scenarios these methods return many alternative diagnoses, thus
placing the burden of fault localization on the user. This paper demonstrates
how the target diagnosis can be identified by performing a sequence of
observations, that is, by querying an oracle about entailments of the target
ontology. To identify the best query we propose two query selection strategies:
a simple "split-in-half" strategy and an entropy-based strategy. The latter
allows knowledge about typical user errors to be exploited to minimize the
number of queries. Our evaluation showed that the entropy-based method
significantly reduces the number of required queries compared to the
"split-in-half" approach. We experimented with different probability
distributions of user errors and different qualities of the a-priori
probabilities. Our measurements demonstrated the superiority of entropy-based
query selection even in cases where all fault probabilities are equal, i.e.
where no information about typical user errors is available.Comment: Published in Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World
Wide Web. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1004.533
Hardware/software codesign methodology for fuzzy controller implementation
This paper describes a HW/SW codesign methodology
for the implementation of fuzzy controllers on a platform
composed by a general-purpose microcontroller and specific
processing elements implemented on FPGAs or ASICs. The
different phases of the methodology, as well as the CAD tools
used in each design stage, are presented, with emphasis on the
fuzzy system development environment Xfuzzy. Also included is
a practical application of the described methodology for the
development of a fuzzy controller for a dosage system
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