Techniques and patterns for safe and efficient real-time middleware

Over 90 percent of all microprocessors are now used for real-time and embedded applications. The behavior of these applications is often constrained by the physical world. It is therefore important to devise higher-level languages and middleware that meet conventional functional requirements, as well as dependably and productively enforce real-time constraints. Real-Time Java is emerging as a safe, real-time environment. In this thesis we use it as our experimentation platform; however, our findings are easily adapted to other similar platforms. This thesis provides the following contributions to the study of safe and efficient real-time middleware. First, it identifies potential bottlenecks and problem with respect to guaranteeing real-time performance in middleware. Second, it presents a series of techniques and patterns that allow the design and implementation of safe, predictable, and highly efficient real-time middleware. Third, it provides a set of architectural and design patterns that application developers can use when designing real-time systems. Finally, it provides a methodology for evaluating the merits and benefits of real-time middleware. Empirical results are presented using that methodology for the techniques presented in this thesis. The methodology helps compare the performance and predictability of general, real-time middleware platforms.