Report available via FTP

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The following report has just been published and is available via FTP:

%T HRT-HOOD: A Design Method for Hard Real-time Ada
%A A. Burns
%A A.J. Wellings
%I Department of Computer Science, University of York
%D May 1993
%R YCS199

The report is stored in compressed postscript format in

/pub/realtime/papers/YCS199.ps.Z

at minster.york.ac.uk (144.32.128.41)

Remember to use the binary mode when getting the file. The file
/pub/realtime/papers/INDEX contains information on all the reports and papers
stored in the realtime archive. Additionally, the directory /reports
contains the most recent reports of the Department of Computer Science at
York.

The abstract of the report is as follows:

"Most structured design methods claim to address the needs of hard
real-time systems.  However, few contain abstractions which directly
relate to common hard real-time activities, such as periodic or sporadic
processes. Furthermore, the methods do not constrain the designer to
produce systems which can be analysed for their timing properties.  In
this paper we present a structured design method called HRT-HOOD (Hard
Real-Time Hierarchical Object Oriented Design).  HRT-HOOD is an
extension of HOOD, and includes object types which enable common hard
real-time abstractions to be represented.  The method is presented in
the context of a hard real-time system life cycle, which enables issues
of timeliness and dependability to be addressed much earlier on in the
development process. We argue that this will enable dependable
real-time systems to be engineered in a more cost effective manner than
the current practise, which in effect treats these topics as
performance issues.  To illustrate our approach we present a simple
case study of a Mine Drainage Control System, and show how it can be
designed using the abstractions presented in the paper."

--
Ken Tindell             Internet      : ken@minster.york.ac.uk
Computer Science Dept., Local FTP site: minster.york.ac.uk
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