RTI, Green Hills partner on 1st standards-based DDS platform

Real-Time Innovations Inc . (RTI) and Green Hills Software Inc . recently announced a standards-based data distribution platform for embedded applications that need high reliability and security. RTI’s Network Data Distribution Service (NDDS)—reportedly the first commercially available publish-subscribe middleware based on the Object Management Group’s (OMG) Data Distribution Service (DDS) V1.0—has been integrated with Green Hills’ Integrity real-time operating system (RTOS). Integrity claims to be the first operating system certified under the latest IEEE 1003.1-2003 System Interfaces Product Standard ( click here to view the listing on the certification register ).

Most real-time distributed applications require efficient data movement among different subsystem modules. (These subsystems gather/generate data via interfaces with sensors, monitor and process data, or control and communicate with other subsystems.) The modules can be located on various processors or distributed across multiple computers connected by a network, such as Ethernet, shared memory, or a VME backplane, for example.

Under the OMG DDS standard, developers specify various “quality of service” (QoS) parameters, such as reliability versus best-effort delivery, expected rates of publication, and time validity of data throughout the network. Modules that send data become publishers , focusing only on the specific data type they transmit, while modules that need specific information are subscribers , and only need to know the particulars of data they wish to receive.

NDDS caters to the requirements of real-time and embedded systems. It uses capabilities inherent in the Data-Centric Publish-Subscribe (DCPS) model to offer a high-quality implementation. NDDS minimizes the need for multiple data copies, helping to increase performance. Also, NDDS allows the application to allocate resources beforehand—thus increasing reliability and real-time determinism, say the developers.

Dan Mender, Green Hills Software’s director of business development, explains, “Green Hills’ Integrity RTOS has proven itself in many mission-critical systems. With RTI’s NDDS support for fault-tolerant and high-availability applications, the combination is a strong software infrastructure solution for those developing distributed safety-critical and mission-critical applications.”

NDDS integrated with Green Hills Software’s Integrity RTOS is available with full support and maintenance from RTI starting at $46,920 for a three-user license.

—Frank J. Bartos, executive editor, Control Engineering, fbartos@reedbusiness.com

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