Composing Data-Rich Embedded Systems the Easy Way

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

Composing Data-Rich Embedded Systems the Easy Way ------------------------------------------------- Arvind Krishnamurthy and Henrik Nilsson Department of Computer Science, Yale University Embedded computing increasingly takes place in a sensor rich environment where the acquisition of raw information is much easier than its interpretation. In addition to building components to process this data, embedded systems programmers must also arrange the communication among potentially hundreds of components, distributing computation to the processing elements so as to minimize communication costs and maximize responsiveness, and scheduling of the processing elements to adapt to changing priorities and communication patterns. These challenges must be addressed at the system level rather than the processor level. This project develops a framework for composing distributed, data-rich embedded systems that automates many of the low-level process allocation and scheduling tasks. It takes place against a backdrop of a "next generation" humanoid robot currently being developed at Yale. The robot contains a significant number of processors connected in a heterogeneous fashion. The project addresses two fundamental research issues. The first is the use of modern programming language techniques to address critical embedded system concerns such as composability and dynamic configuration change. The second is improving overall system performance by exploiting high level system knowledge in the run-time system. The end result will be a design methodology that will enable rapid and reliable construction of complex data-rich interactive systems.