Re: Ada and embedded system reconfiguration

["Paul Pukite" <pukite@daina.com>]

R.A.L Williams  <bill@uk.co.gec-mrc> wrote:
 > Are ADA, reconfiguration and software reuse mutuall exclusive? Discuss.

If your question concerns feasibility: Yes, you can do portable, distributed 
processor reconfiguration using Ada.  If you want first-hand info...

My company did work on the Pave Pillar/AARTS (Ada avionics real-time 
software) program for the US Air Force.  We supplied the Ada expert 
system module for reconfiguring the loadable program units depending on 
mission mode and failures of the clustered processors (we called it the 
RRM -- redundancy and reconfiguration manager).

I developed the RRM module with PC Ada and then cross-compiled directly to 
the 1750A for their testbed. It should also work with the 6800,etc targets.  
So mixing processor types is not considered a real problem. You just 
have to have the binary images available to load on the matching CPU.

(The primary contractors did the main AARTS work and did a commendable
job. You really appreciate Ada and good design when you have to 
integrate with someone else's code.)

We finished the project up in 1992. You can find references to the Pave 
Pillar project (including this) in the NAECON proceedings from that year.

What's the problem with doing it with Ada?  Nothing, as far as I can
tell. You need a commitment, and then you just do it!

--
Paul Pukite (pukite@daina.com)
DAINA Engineering  612/781-7600
4111 Central, Mpls MN 55421-2953