Objectives

The main objective of this project is the design and implementation of a library of free software components for the design of embedded real-time systems. These components will be used to create flexible (new scheduling will support a wide variety of applications), configurable (scalable from a small to a fully featured system), robust (fault-tolerant and high performant) and portable (adaptable to several hw/sw configurations) systems.

The OCERA components will provide Linux with the new real-time functionalities and will permit embedded system developers to access all these benefits.

The project shall transfer to the industrial world an innovative real-time technology which leans on scientific results recognized and validated in a formal way. The components will be designed to cover the widest application range including fully critical systems, and systems with different critically degrees.

Description of the work

The OCERA project is defined around 13 workpackages covering 5 activities. As the project aims at delivering software to the industry, its results will be checked against the real needs thanks to the contribution in the first activity of analysis and specification: the analysis of the RTOS state of the art (WP1) in conjunction with the market analysis results (WP3) will allow to define functionalities and kinds of embedded systems which will make possible the definition of the hardware and software requirements (WP2). From these requirements/architecture specification, the development activity is concentrated in the design and implementation of the appropriate real-time methods and techniques in the field of resource management (WP4), scheduling (WP5), fault-tolerance (WP6) and communications (WP7). The assessment of project results is organised in a third activity around the integration (WP8) and the evaluation in real world applications (WP9). The project aims at reaching rapid quality software production. It implies extensive testing, verification and validation, performance evaluation and competition analysis. To fulfil these requirements, the development has been structured in two phases. The first phase provides basic mechanisms and the second phase completes the functionalities. As soon as the first step of development is achieved, the integration phase can start in workpackage WP8. This permits immediate exploitation of results - at mid-term of the project one version of Real-time Linux supplied with a minimum set of functionalities will be made available.

The management and dissemination will permit the partners interaction and it will be carried out through periodic meetings, electronic mail, and the web site support. These activities are performed in WP11 and WP13; WP12 will focus on the evaluation and assessment of the results..

Milestones and expected results

The expected outcome of the OCERA project is the implementation of a comprehensive software architecture based on a high-performance distributed real-time operating system. A library of free software components for the design of a high variety of embedded real-time systems to cover several classes of applications configures the basis of this architecture. The project will provide case studies, training documentation, details of the demonstrators and the software components through a web site.

The milestones are as follows:

The OCERA components will provide Linux with the new real-time functionalities and will permit embedded system developers to access all these benefits. The project shall transfer to the industrial world an innovative realtime technology which leans on scientific results recognized and validated in a formal way. The components will be designed to cover the widest application range including fully critical systems, and systems with different critically degrees.