Embedded Systems Courses at RIT

A three-course sequence of cross-disciplinary real-time and embedded systems courses has been introduced at RIT ¢. We are teaching these courses in a studio-lab environment teaming computer engineering and software engineering students. The courses introduce students to programming both microcontrollers and more sophisticated targets, use of a commercial real-time operating system and development environment, modeling and performance engineering of these systems, and their interactions with physical systems

Case Study of the Space Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrade Software

The purpose of the Space Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrade project was to reduce crew workload and improve situational awareness. The upgrade was to augment the Shuttle avionics system with new hardware and software. An early version of this system was used to gather human factor statistics in the Space Shuttle Motion Simulator of the Johnson Space Center for one month by multiple teams of astronauts. The results were compiled by NASA Ames Research Center and it was was determined that the system provided a better than expected increase in situational awareness and reduction in crew workload. Even with all of the benefits nf the system, NASA cancelled the project towards the end of the development cycle. A major success of this project was the validation of the hardware architecture and software design. This was significant because the project incorporated new technology and approaches for the development of human rated space software. This paper serves as a case study to document knowledge gained and techniques that can be applied for future space avionics development efforts. The major technological advances were the use of reflective memory concepts for data acquisition and the incorporation of Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) products in a human rated space avionics system. The infused COTS products included a real time operating system, a resident linker and loader, a display generation tool set, and a network data manager. Some of the successful design concepts were the engineering of identical outputs in multiple avionics boxes using an event driven approach and inter-computer communication, a reconfigurable data acquisition engine, the use of a dynamic bus bandwidth allocation algorithm. Other significant experiences captured were the use of prototyping to reduce risk, and the correct balance between Object Oriented and Functional based programming

Educational RTOS Development Board

The objective of this project was to facilitate student learning of embedded systems design. At WPI, students in ECE3849 must combine hardware and software concepts to develop real-time embedded systems in labs, a process which often frustrates students. This project identified ways to engage students in embedded systems design by 1) identifying ECE3849’s educational objectives 2) designing a versatile peripheral board to support new labs, 3) synthesizing student feedback on their frustrations and 4) developing targeted documentation for students to help alleviate their frustrations in labs. My development board, documentation, and critical analysis of student feedback provide recommendations for instructors to help future offerings of ECE3849 challenge students to design embedded systems

CIM: Capability-Innovation-Motive Teaching Model for System Engineering Education – “Embedded Operating Systems” as an Example

Traditional education models face great challenges from mobile devices, social networks and open courseware. Current professional knowledge and system design skills are inadequate for engineering-tracked students to thrive in a competitive job market and unpredictable professional contexts, which require them to develop unique ideas and innovations and know how to realize them. This study seeks to establish instructional arrangements in system engineering education to foster student creativity. A semester-long “embedded operating system (EOS)” course was offered as a trial system engineering course. In the paper, we explain the instructional challenges encountered and how these were addressed using the proposed Capability-Innovation-Motive (CIM) teaching model. Based on the CIM model, the EOS syllabus was redesigned to enhance student domain capabilities and build their innovative skills to help them better understand and manage abstract concepts discussed in the lectures. We then collected and analyzed student feedback by implementing Day Reconstruction Method (DRM). Analysis results show that the outcomes of both the best and worst final projects show a promising degree of creativity

Xenomai Lab: uma plataforma para controlo digital em tempo-real

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e TelecomunicaçõesXenomai Lab is a free software suite that allows a user to graphically design control systems using block diagrams. The designed system can be executed in real-time with operating frequencies of up to 10KHz using the Xenomai framework. Execution can be merely a numerical simulation or an interaction with the real-world via input/output blocks. Several useful blocks are included in the default installation, such as an oscilloscope, a signal generator, MATLAB setpoint profile loader, and others. A rich set of documentation and examples is also provided. Development of Xenomai Lab was supported by a thorough study of real-time operating systems based on GNU/Linux. The performances of standard Linux, the PREEEMPT_RT patchset, RTAI and Xenomai were benchmarked using a standard test. This allowed for a direct comparison between them. Xenomai was found to have the ideal balance between performance and ease of use, with scheduling jitter bellow 35μs on a desktop computer. Ease of use was one of Xenomai Lab’s main goals. This distinguishes it from alternatives. Control algorithms are programmed in C and no prior knowledge of Xenomai, or real-time operating systems in general for that matter, is needed. This makes our system adequate for use by control engineers unfamiliar with GNU/Linux and by entry level students of control engineering, robotics, and other equally technical areas. Advanced users will feel right at home.O Xenomai Lab é uma plataforma open-source que permite a um utilizador projectar gráficamente um sistema de controlo recorrendo a um diagrama de blocos. O sistema projectado pode ser executado em tempo-real a uma frequência de operação de até 10KHz pela framework de tempo-real Xenomai. Execução pode ser uma mera simulação numérica, ou uma interacção com o mundo real recorrendo a blocos de input e output. A instalação traz de origem vários blocos potencialmente úteis, como um osciloscópio, um gerador de sinais, interface com perfis de setpoint feitos em MATLAB, entre outros. É também incluída documentação e alguns exemplos ilustrativos. O desenvolvimento do Xenomai Lab teve por base uma pesquisa exaustiva de sistemas operativos de tempo-real baseados em GNU/Linux. As performances de Linux, do patch PREEEMPT_RT, do RTAI e do Xenomai foram medidas recorrendo a um mesmo teste. Desta forma, tornou-se possível fazer uma comparação directa entre as diferentes tecnologias. De acordo com os nossos testes, o Xenomai apresenta um balanço ideal entre performance e facilidade de utilização. O jitter de escalonamento esteve sempre abaixo de 35μs num computador de secretária. O Xenomai Lab foi desenvolvido de forma a ser fácil de utilizar. Esta é a característica chave que o distingue de software semelhante. Algoritmos de controlo são programados em linguagem C, não sendo necessário nenhum conhecimento específico de Xenomai ou mesmo de sistemas de tempo-real em geral. Assim, o Xenomai Lab é adequado para engenheiros da área de controlo sem experiência em GNU/Linux ou sistemas operativos de tempo-real ou mesmo estudantes de engenharia de controlo, robótica e outras áreas técnicas. Utilizadores avançados sentir-se-ão imediatamente em casa

A Novel Thread Scheduler Design for Polymorphic Embedded Systems

A novel thread scheduler design for polymorphic embedded systems Abstract: The ever-increasing complexity of current day embedded systems necessitates that these systems be adaptable and scalable to user demands. With the growing use of consumer electronic devices, embedded computing is steadily approaching the desktop computing trend. End users expect their consumer electronic devices to operate faster than before and offer support for a wide range of applications. In order to accommodate a broad range of user applications, the challenge is to come up with an efficient design for the embedded system scheduler. Hence the primary goal of the thesis is to design a thread scheduler for a polymorphic thread computing embedded system. This is the first ever novel attempt at designing a polymorphic thread scheduler as none of the existing or conventional schedulers have accounted for thread polymorphism. To summarize the thesis work, a dynamic thread scheduler for a Multiple Application, Multithreaded polymorphic system has been implemented with User satisfaction as its objective function. The sigmoid function helps to accurately model end user perception in an embedded system as opposed to the conventional systems where the objective is to maximize/minimize the performance metric such as performance, power, energy etc. The Polymorphic thread scheduler framework which operates in a dynamic environment with N multithreaded applications has been explained and evaluated. Randomly generated Application graphs are used to test the Polymorphic scheduler framework. The benefits obtained by using User Satisfaction as the objective function and the performance enhancements obtained using the novel thread scheduler are demonstrated clearly using the result graphs. The advantages of the proposed greedy thread scheduling algorithm are demonstrated by comparison against conventional thread scheduling approaches like First Come First Serve (FCFS) and priority scheduling schemes

Network time : synchronisation in real time distributed computing systems

In the past, network clock synchronization has been sufficient for the needs of traditional distributed systems, for such purposes as maintaining Network File Systems, enabling Internet mail services and supporting other applications that require a degree of clock synchronization. Increasingly real time systems arc requiring high degrees of time synchronization. Where this is required, the common approach up until now has been to distribute the clock to each processor by means of hardware (e.g. GPS and cesium clocks) or to distribute time by means of an additional dedicated timing network. Whilst this has proved successful for real time systems, the use of present day high speed networks with definable quality of service from the protocol layers has lead to the possibility of using the existing data network to distribute the time. This thesis demonstrates that by using system integration and implementation of commercial off the shelf (COTS) products it is possible to distribute and coordinate the time of the computer time clocks to microsecond range. Thus providing close enough synchronization to support real time systems whilst avoiding the additional time, infrastructure and money needed to build and maintain a specialized timing network

Optimising the NAOMI adaptive optics real-time control system

This thesis describes the author's research in the field of Real-Time Control (RTC) for Adaptive Optics (AO) instrumentation. The research encompasses experiences and knowledge gained working in the area of RTC on astronomical instrumentation projects whilst at the Optical Science Laboratories (OSL), University College London (UCL), the Isaac Newton Groups of Telescopes (ING) and the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation (СfAI), Durham University. It begins by providing an extensive introduction to the field of Astronomical Adaptive Optics covering Image Correction Theory, Atmospheric Theory, Control Theory and Adaptive Optics Component Theory. The following chapter contains a review of the current state of world wide AO instruments and facilities. The Nasmyth Adaptive Optics Multi-purpose Instrument (NAOMI), the common user AO facility at the 4.2 William Herschel Telescope (WHT), is subsequently described. Results of NAOMI component characterisation experiments are detailed to provide a system understanding of the improvement optimisation could offer. The final chapter investigates how upgrading the RTCS could increase NAOMI'S spatial and temporal performance and examines the RTCS in the context of Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) class telescopes

Second Annual Conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems. Abstracts

Abstracts from the conference are presented. The topics covered include the following: next generation software systems and languages; databases, catalogs, and archives; user interfaces/visualization; real-time data acquisition/scheduling; and IRAF/STSDAS/PROS status reports