A Prototype Tool for Software Component Services in Embedded Real-Time Systems

The use of software component models has become popular during the last decade, in particular in the development of software for desktop applications and distributed information systems. However, such models have not been widely used in the domain of embedded real-time systems. There is a considerable amount of research on component models for embedded real-time systems, or even narrower application domains, which focuses on source code components and statically configured systems. This paper explores an alternative approach by laying the groundwork for a component model based on binary components and targeting the broader domain of embedded real-time systems. The work is inspired by component models for the desktop and information systems domains in the sense that a basic component model is extended with a set of services for the targeted application domain. A prototype tool for supporting these services is presented and its use illustrated by a control application.