Seamless Integration of Real-Time Communications Into CAN-CORBA Using Extended IDL and Fast-Track Messages

Abstract

Component-based middleware technologies have rapidly emerged as a viable solution to the notorious embedded software crisis. However, it is extremely challenging to actually utilize them in real-world applications since embedded systems are subject to a high degree of reliability and real-time requirements, under serious resource requirements. Recently, in~\cite{rtas00}, we have proposed CAN-CORBA for CAN-based distributed real-time control systems. It addresses major difficulties in designing embedded middleware, such as the narrow bandwidth of the communication medium and the limited size of the payload. In~\cite{lctes00}, we have also presented a fault-tolerant extension to CAN-CORBA.

This paper presents our approach to integrating real-time communications into CAN-CORBA. It first explains how we extend the IDL of the standard CORBA to annotate timing constraints in a CORBA program. It then describes how we can use ``fast-track messages'' for time-critical real-time traffic.