810413
Enhancing the robustness of distributed real-time middleware via end-to-end utilization control
A key challenge for distributed real-time and embedded (DRE) middleware is maintaining both system reliability and desired real-time performance in unpredictable environments where system workload and resources may fluctuate significantly. This paper presents FC-ORB, a realtime object request broker (ORB) middleware that employs end-to-end utilization control to handle fluctuations in application workload and system resources. The contributions of this paper are three-fold. First, we present a novel utilization control service that enforces desired CPU utilization bounds on multiple processors by adapting the rates of end-to-end tasks within user-specified ranges. Second, we describe a set of middleware-level mechanisms designed to support end-to-end tasks and distributed multi-processor utilization control in a real-time ORB. Finally, we present extensive experimental results on a Linux testbed. Our results demonstrate that our middleware can maintain desired utilizations in face of uncertainties and variations in task execution times, resource contentions from external workloads, and permanent processor failure. FC-ORB demonstrates that the integration of utilization control, end-to-end scheduling and fault-tolerance mechanisms in DRE middleware is a promising approach for enhancing the robustness of DRE applications in unpredictable environments
5719252
End-to-end utilization control in distributed real-time systems
An increasing number of distributed real-time systems face the critical challenge of providing end-to-end quality of service (QoS) guarantees in open and unpredictable environments. In particular, such systems often need to guarantee the CPU utilization on multiple processors in order to achieve overload protection and meet end-to-end deadlines while task execution times are unpredictable. While the recently developed feedback control real-time scheduling algorithms have shown promise, they cannot handle the common end-to-end task model in distributed systems where each task is comprised of a chain of subtasks distributed on multiple processors. We present the end-to-end utilization control (EUCON) algorithm that features a distributed feedback loop that dynamically enforces desired CPU utilization bounds on multiple processors based on online performance measurements EUCON is based on a model predictive control approach that models the utilization control problem on a distributed platform as a multivariable constrained optimization problem. A multiinput-multioutput model predictive controller is designed based on a difference equation model that describes the dynamic behavior of distributed real-time systems. Both control theoretic analysis and simulations demonstrate that EUCON can provide robust utilization guarantees even when task execution times deviate from the estimation or vary significantly at run-time.
15273314
Feedback control real-time scheduling in ORB middleware
Existing real-time ORB middleware standards such as RT-CORBA do not adequately address the challenges of 1) providing robust performance guarantees portably across different platforms, and 2) managing unpredictable workload. To overcome this limitation, we have developed software called FCS/nORB that integrates a Feedback Control real-lime Scheduling (FCS) service with the nORB small-footprint real-time ORB designed for networked embedded systems. FCS/nORB features feedback control loops that provide real-time performance guarantees by automatically adjusting the rate of remote method invocations transparently to an application. FCS/nORB thus enables real-time applications to be truly portable in terms of real-time performance as well as functionality, without the need for hand tuning. This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of FCS/nORB. Our extensive experiments on a Linux testbed demonstrate that FCS can provide deadline miss ratio and utilization guarantees in face of changes in the platform and task execution times, while introducing a small amount of overhead.
7656393
CAMRIT: control-based adaptive middleware for real-time image transmission
Real-time image transmission is crucial to an emerging class of distributed embedded systems operating in open network environments. Examples include avionics mission re-planning over Link-16, security systems based on wireless camera networks, and online collaboration using camera phones. Meeting image transmission deadlines is a key challenge in such systems due to unpredictable network conditions. In this paper, we present CAMRIT, a control-based adaptive middleware framework for real-time image transmission in distributed real-time embedded systems. CAMRIT features a distributed feedback control loop that meets image transmission deadlines by dynamically adjusting the quality of image tiles. We derive an analytic model that captures the dynamics of a distributed middleware architecture. A control theoretic methodology is applied to systematically design a control algorithm with analytic assurance of system stability and performance, despite uncertainties in network bandwidth. Experimental results demonstrate that CAMRIT can provide robust real-time guarantees for a representative application scenario.
269391
Integrated coverage and connectivity configuration in wireless sensor networks
An effective approach for energy conservation in wireless sensor networks is scheduling sleep intervals for extraneous nodes, while the remaining nodes stay active to provide continuous service. For the sensor network to operate successfully, the active nodes must maintain both sensing coverage and network connectivity. Furthermore, the network must be able to configure itself to any feasible degrees of coverage and connectivity in order to support different applications and environments with diverse requirements. This paper presents the design and analysis of novel protocols that can dynamically configure a network to achieve guaranteed degrees of coverage and connectivity. This work differs from existing connectivity or coverage maintenance protocols in several key ways: 1) We present a Coverage Configuration Protocol (CCP) that can provide different degrees of coverage requested by applications. This flexibility allows the network to self-configure for a wide range of applications and (possibly dynamic) environments. 2) We provide a geometric analysis of the relationship between coverage and connectivity. This analysis yields key insights for treating coverage and connectivity in a unified framework: this is in sharp contrast to several existing approaches that address the two problems in isolation. 3) Finally, we integrate CCP with SPAN to provide both coverage and connectivity guarantees. We demonstrate the capability of our protocols to provide guaranteed coverage and connectivity configurations, through both geometric analysis and extensive simulations.
1347401
Decentralized utilization control in distributed real-time systems
Many real-time systems must control their CPU utilizations in order to meet end-to-end deadlines and prevent overload. Utilization control is particularly challenging in distributed real-time systems with highly unpredictable workloads and a large number of end-to-end tasks and processors. This paper presents the decentralized end-to-end utilization control (DEUCON) algorithm that can dynamically enforce desired utilizations on multiple processors in such systems. In contrast to centralized control schemes adopted in earlier work, DEUCON features a novel decentralized control structure that only requires localized coordination among neighbor processors. DEUCON is systematically designed based on recent advances in distributed model predictive control theory. Both control-theoretic analysis and simulations show that DEUCON can provide robust utilization guarantees and maintain global system stability despite severe variations in task execution times. Furthermore, DEUCON can effectively distribute the computation and communication cost to different processors and tolerate considerable communication delay between local controllers. Our results indicate that DEUCON can provide scalable and robust utilization control for large-scale distributed real-time systems executing in unpredictable environments
15373083
WSMO-PA: Formal Specification of Public Administration Service Model on Semantic Web Service Ontology
In this paper we define a formal model for a public administration service on the basis of the Web service modeling ontology (WSMO). For this purpose we employ the generic public service object model of the governance enterprise architecture (GEA) providing a PA domain specific semantics. We investigate conceptual mappings between PA entities and WSMO elements, and on the real-world use case present the detailed formal PA service model based on the WSMO service model
14870178
An approach to topology synthesis of analog circuits using hierarchical blocks and symbolic analysis
This paper presents a method of design automation for analog circuits, focusing on topology generation and quick performance evaluation. First we describe mechanisms to generate circuit topologies with hierarchical blocks. Those blocks are specialized by adding terminal information. The connection between blocks is in compliance with a set of synthesis rules, which are extracted from typical schematics in the literature. Symbolic analysis has been used to select an appropriate topology quickly and to help the designer gain a better understanding of a circuit's behavior. Finally, experimental results show the creativity and efficiency of our method
28581906
Design of an OGSA-Based MetaService Architecture
This paper proposes a MetaService-based architecture for dealing with the problem of services management in grid systems. We introduce the basic idea of MetaService, and then discuss MetaService classification, new MetaService construction, and the MetaService working mechanism. A graph and a tree can be used for the optimization function of MetaService. An example from real life is used to explain the role of MetaService. We give an overview of a grid prototype system which has incorporated some of the ideas presented. A brief comparison is given between MetaService and other related work.
15536346
An Index Structure for Data Mining and Clustering
Abstract. In this paper we present an index structure, called MetricMap, that takes a set of objects and a distance metric and then maps those objects to a k-dimensional space in such a way that the distances among objects are approximately preserved. The index structure is a useful tool for clustering and visualization in data-intensive applications, because it replaces expensive distance calculations by sum-of-square calculations. This can make clustering in large databases with expensive distance metrics practical. We compare the index structure with another data mining index structure, FastMap, recently proposed by Faloutsos and Lin, according to two criteria: relative error and clustering accuracy. For relative error, we show that (i) FastMap gives a lower relative error than MetricMap for Euclidean distances, (ii) MetricMap gives a lower relative error than FastMap for non-Euclidean distances (i.e., general distance metrics), and (iii) combining the two reduces the error yet further. A similar result is obtained when comparing the accuracy of clustering. These results hold for different data sizes. The main qualitative conclusion is that these two index structures capture complementary information about distance metrics and therefore can be used together to great benefit. The net effect is that multi-day computations can be done in minutes.
6847194
Analyzing the secure overlay services architecture under intelligent DDoS attacks
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are currently major threats to communication in the Internet. A secure overlay services (SOS) architecture has been proposed to provide reliable communication between clients and a target under DDoS attacks. The SOS architecture employs a set of overlay nodes arranged in three hierarchical layers that controls access to the target. Although the architecture is novel and works well under simple congestion based attacks, we observe that it is vulnerable under more intelligent attacks. We generalize the SOS architecture by introducing more flexibility in layering to the original architecture. We define two intelligent DDoS attack models and develop an analytical approach to study the impacts of the number of layers, number of neighbors per node and the node distribution per layer on the system performance under these two attack models. Our data clearly demonstrate that performance is indeed sensitive to the design features and the different design features interact with each other to impact overall system performance.