The TASTE Toolset: turning human designed heterogeneous systems into computer built homogeneous software.

The TASTE tool-set results from spin-off studies of the ASSERT project, which started in 2004 with the objective to propose innovative and pragmatic solutions to develop real-time software. One of the primary targets was satellite flight software, but it appeared quickly that their characteristics were shared among various embedded systems. The solutions that we developed now comprise a process and several tools ; the development process is based on the idea that real-time, embedded systems are heterogeneous by nature and that a unique UML-like language was not helping neither their construction, nor their validation. Rather than inventing yet another "ultimate" language, TASTE makes the link between existing and mature technologies such as Simulink, SDL, ASN.1, C, Ada, and generates complete, homogeneous software-based systems that one can straightforwardly download and execute on a physical target. Our current prototype is moving toward a marketed product, and sequel studies are already in place to support, among others, FPGA systems

Ada (trademark) projects at NASA. Runtime environment issues and recommendations

Ada practitioners should use this document to discuss and establish common short term requirements for Ada runtime environments. The major current Ada runtime environment issues are identified through the analysis of some of the Ada efforts at NASA and other research centers. The runtime environment characteristics of major compilers are compared while alternate runtime implementations are reviewed. Modifications and extensions to the Ada Language Reference Manual to address some of these runtime issues are proposed. Three classes of projects focusing on the most critical runtime features of Ada are recommended, including a range of immediately feasible full scale Ada development projects. Also, a list of runtime features and procurement issues is proposed for consideration by the vendors, contractors and the government

Programming in a proposed 9X distributed Ada

The studies of the proposed Ada 9X constructs for distribution, now referred to as AdaPT are reported. The goals for this time period were to revise the chosen example scenario and to begin studying about how the proposed constructs might be implemented. The example scenario chosen is the Submarine Combat Information Center (CIC) developed by IBM for the Navy. The specification provided by IBM was preliminary and had several deficiencies. To address these problems, some changes to the scenario specification were made. Some of the more important changes include: (1) addition of a system database management function; (2) addition of a fourth processing unit to the standard resources; (3) addition of an operator console interface function; and (4) removal of the time synchronization function. To implement the CIC scenario in AdaPT, the decided strategy were publics, partitions, and nodes. The principle purpose for implementing the CIC scenario was to demonstrate how the AdaPT constructs interact with the program structure. While considering ways that the AdaPt constructs might be translated to Ada 83, it was observed that the partition construct could reasonably be modeled as an abstract data type. Although this gives a useful method of modeling partitions, it does not at all address the configuration aspects on the node construct

Research in software allocation for advanced manned mission communications and tracking systems

An assessment of the planned processing hardware and software/firmware for the Communications and Tracking System of the Space Station Freedom (SSF) was performed. The intent of the assessment was to determine the optimum distribution of software/firmware in the processing hardware for maximum throughput with minimum required memory. As a product of the assessment process an assessment methodology was to be developed that could be used for similar assessments of future manned spacecraft system designs. The assessment process was hampered by changing requirements for the Space Station. As a result, the initial objective of determining the optimum software/firmware allocation was not fulfilled, but several useful conclusions and recommendations resulted from the assessment. It was concluded that the assessment process would not be completely successful for a system with changing requirements. It was also concluded that memory requirements and hardware requirements were being modified to fit as a consequence of the change process, and although throughput could not be quantitized, potential problem areas could be identified. Finally, inherent flexibility of the system design was essential for the success of a system design with changing requirements. Recommendations resulting from the assessment included development of common software for some embedded controller functions, reduction of embedded processor requirements by hardwiring some Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) to make better use of processor capabilities, and improvement in communications between software development personnel to enhance the integration process. Lastly, a critical observation was made regarding the software integration tasks did not appear to be addressed in the design process to the degree necessary for successful satisfaction of the system requirements

Space Generic Open Avionics Architecture (SGOAA) reference model technical guide

This report presents a full description of the Space Generic Open Avionics Architecture (SGOAA). The SGOAA consists of a generic system architecture for the entities in spacecraft avionics, a generic processing architecture, and a six class model of interfaces in a hardware/software system. The purpose of the SGOAA is to provide an umbrella set of requirements for applying the generic architecture interface model to the design of specific avionics hardware/software systems. The SGOAA defines a generic set of system interface points to facilitate identification of critical interfaces and establishes the requirements for applying appropriate low level detailed implementation standards to those interface points. The generic core avionics system and processing architecture models provided herein are robustly tailorable to specific system applications and provide a platform upon which the interface model is to be applied

A distributed programming environment for Ada

Despite considerable commercial exploitation of fault tolerance systems, significant and difficult research problems remain in such areas as fault detection and correction. A research project is described which constructs a distributed computing test bed for loosely coupled computers. The project is constructing a tool kit to support research into distributed control algorithms, including a distributed Ada compiler, distributed debugger, test harnesses, and environment monitors. The Ada compiler is being written in Ada and will implement distributed computing at the subsystem level. The design goal is to provide a variety of control mechanics for distributed programming while retaining total transparency at the code level

Autonomous power system intelligent diagnosis and control

The Autonomous Power System (APS) project at NASA Lewis Research Center is designed to demonstrate the abilities of integrated intelligent diagnosis, control, and scheduling techniques to space power distribution hardware. Knowledge-based software provides a robust method of control for highly complex space-based power systems that conventional methods do not allow. The project consists of three elements: the Autonomous Power Expert System (APEX) for fault diagnosis and control, the Autonomous Intelligent Power Scheduler (AIPS) to determine system configuration, and power hardware (Brassboard) to simulate a space based power system. The operation of the Autonomous Power System as a whole is described and the responsibilities of the three elements - APEX, AIPS, and Brassboard - are characterized. A discussion of the methodologies used in each element is provided. Future plans are discussed for the growth of the Autonomous Power System

If money talks, what does it say? Varieties of capitalism and business financing of parties

Do business contributions to political parties convey different messages in different countries, and, if so, why? This is the first cross-national study of firm behaviour in political finance. It understands motivations for contributions to parties as either ideological or pragmatic. Motivation is inferred by quantitatively relating the payments of 960 firms to variations in political competition in three countries over periods of between seven and seventeen years. In co-ordinated Germany, a small number of firms make ideological payments. In liberal Canada and Australia, large numbers of firms made pragmatic payments. Australia’s left-right party system created an awareness of policy risk, which motivated ideological payments, but there was no ideological bias in business financing of politics in Canada’s unusually non-ideological party system. The statistical analysis is supplemented by a qualitative investigation of discrete and reciprocal exchanges between businesses and political parties

Fault tolerant architectures for integrated aircraft electronics systems

Work into possible architectures for future flight control computer systems is described. Ada for Fault-Tolerant Systems, the NETS Network Error-Tolerant System architecture, and voting in asynchronous systems are covered