CAREER: Integrated Fault Tolerance and Real-Time Support for Middleware Applications

本项目利用CORBA中间件标准作为工具，探索分布式中间件应用的实时性和容错性的组成。 虽然最初的方法将适用于CORBA，但结果将适用于其他中间件，如Java。 该项目的主要科学贡献是描述了中间件应用程序需要实时和容错支持时发生的精确权衡，沿着了可用于解决这些权衡的体系结构和策略。该项目的主要技术贡献是为构建实时容错系统提供了一套新的实践和算法，以及用于清理中间件应用程序中的非确定性的工具，目的是同时满足实时可预测性和容错一致性要求。该项目进一步加深了我们对实时和容错等“能力”之间精确权衡和复杂交互的技术理解，从而有助于减少继续构建的专有脆弱系统的数量。 该项目有可能影响最先进的技术和最先进的实践，使未来基于COTS的关键任务应用程序能够同时开发实时和容错支持。 认识到应用程序在其可靠性需求方面各不相同，该项目的独特之处在于，它提供了混合和匹配不同容错机制的机制，以允许定制系统的预期可靠性。通过参与诸如对象管理组等组织，该项目的结果将可用于加强现有和未来的容错和实时formidware标准。该项目的要素将被纳入课程，以使学生了解可靠性和实时性的交叉问题。 学生们接触到的不仅仅是一种“能力”，而是多种“能力”之间的冲突和权衡，他们将成为更好、更有鉴别力的软件/系统设计师，他们可以被委托来构建未来的关键任务系统。

This project exploits the CORBA middleware standard as a vehicle forexploring the composition of real-time and fault tolerance fordistributed middleware applications. Although the initial approachwill apply to CORBA, the results will be applicable to othermiddleware, such as Java. The primary scientific contributions ofthis project are the description of the precise trade-offs that occurwhen both real-time and fault tolerance support are required for amiddleware application, along with an architecture and strategies thatcan be used to resolve these trade-offs. The primary technicalcontributions of the project are a new set of practices and algorithmsfor building real-time fault-tolerant systems, and tools forsanitizing non-determinism in middleware applications, with the aim ofmeeting both real-time predictability and fault-tolerant consistencyrequirements.This project furthers our technical understanding of the precisetrade-offs and complex interactions between ``-ilities'' such asreal-time and fault tolerance, thereby helping to reduce the number ofproprietary brittle systems that continue to be built. The projecthas the potential to influence the state of the art and thestate of the practice, enabling future COTS-based mission-criticalapplications to be developed with simultaneous real-time andfault-tolerant support. Recognizing that applications vary in theirdependability needs, this project is unique in that it providesmechanisms to mix-and-match the different fault tolerance mechanismsin a manner that allows for the customization of the system'sperceived dependability.Through participation in organizations such as the Object ManagementGroup, the results of this project will be made available to hardenongoing and future standards on fault tolerance and real-time formiddleware. Elements of this project will be incorporated intocurricula in order to expose students to the cross-cutting concerns ofboth reliability and real-time. Students who are exposed to not justone ``-ility'', but to the conflicts and trade-offs between multiple``-ilities'', will make better and more discriminating software/systemarchitects who can be entrusted to build the mission-critical systemsof the future.