A Versatile Monitoring System for Distributed Real–time Systems

Abstract This paper surveys the potential capabilities of monitoring of (distributed) real-time systems and presents some major issues of our actual monitoring system implementation VTA (Versatile Timing Analyzer). First, monitoring is identified as an efficient way to provide theoretical research with realistic (timing–)information concerning the actual stimuli the controlling system of a real–time system has to cope with. Moreover, there are certain specification checking applications, which regard requirements engineering, and last but not least there are several important monitoring applications within the testing area. We elaborate on the design issues resulting from such applications and provide a short architectural summary of the prototype version of the VTA currently being under development at our department.