Target Timing Analysis Reaches New Frontiers

Rapita Systems Ltd and Twin Oaks Computing, Inc. today announced their intent to cooperate with the aim of using Twin Oaks’ CoreDX DDS Middleware for the collection of timing data for RapiTime. The result will allow RapiTime users to collect their timing data via a DDS network, allowing accurate measurement of execution time and coverage even after system integration has taken place.

RapiTime provides a complete on-target profiling solution that can record code coverage, provide detailed measurements of execution time, and calculate predicted worst-case execution time (WCET) of real-time embedded applications. CoreDX DDS Middleware is a small footprint, real time publish subscribe middleware meeting the Object Management Group (OMG) Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard. It provides an easy to use application program interface (API) that manages complex network communications easily while reducing development time significantly. It is highly configurable to meet communication performance and reliability requirements.

“Collecting coverage and execution time data directly from an embedded target is a huge benefit for our customers” commented Dr Guillem Bernat, CEO of Rapita Systems. “Our customers benefit from detailed, accurate information because it is taken from the target code running on the target hardware.” He added, "After system integration takes place, physical constraints (like sealed boxes) make it difficult to collect the trace data directly from the target. We are really excited by the prospect of using CoreDX DDS to continue to collect timing data after this point, over a lightweight, standardized interface.”

Bernat continued “Looking further ahead, it is interesting to recognize that CoreDX DDS Middleware from Twin Oaks Computing and RapiTime from Rapita systems jointly provide a complete coverage of the timing domain for distributed, time-critical applications. For data communications between nodes, CoreDX offers guaranteed delivery times. For the execution of code on individual nodes, RapiTime can measure the worst-case execution time. Taken together, it is possible to build up an end-to-end picture of the timing across the system.”

“The distribution of timing data in large scale time-critical systems is a perfect application of CoreDX DDS with its small footprint, dynamic communications, and low overhead,” says Clark Tucker, CEO of Twin Oaks Computing. “The coupling of CoreDX DDS with RapiTime will offer significant flexibility in the collection and distribution of timing metrics, specifically in the challenging phase of System Integration. We are excited about this application of CoreDX DDS to solve complex communication requirements in deeply embedded systems.”