Resolving middleware configuration challenges using model driven development

Abstract

Middleware is increasingly being used to develop and deploy large-scale distributed real-time and embedded (DRE) systems in domains ranging from avionics to industrial process control and financial services. Applications in these DRE systems require various levels and types of quality of service (QoS) from the middleware, and often run on heterogeneous hardware, network, OS, and compiler platforms. To support a wide range of DRE systems with diverse QoS needs, middleware often provides many (i.e., 10’s-100’s) of options and configuration parameters that enable it to be customized and tuned for different use cases. Supporting this level of flexibility, however, can significantly complicate middleware and hence application QoS. This problem is exacerbated for developers of DRE systems, who must understand precisely how various configuration options affect system performance on their target platforms. This thesis provides two contributions to R&D on model-driven development (MDD) techniques that help codify the impact of middleware configurations on endto- end distributed real-time and embedded (DRE) system quality of service (QoS). First, we describe how MDD techniques can help select middleware configuration parameters that satisfy key functional and QoS requirements of DRE systems. Second, we apply our MDD techniques to empirically evaluate the end-to-end QoS of representative DRE systems in the avionics and industrial manufacturing domains. Our results show how MDD techniques significantly enhance conventional ad hoc processes used by developers to configure middleware that meets the QoS needs of DRE systems.