Real-Time Java

In this paper, we present the DIANA experiment on the use of Java in avionics safety critical applications. First, we discuss some concerns about the porting of the Java platform on the ARINC 653 operating system. Then the paper focuses on some important features of the Safety Critical Java Technology adopted in the project. Particular attention is turned on the Java memory model which is stack-based as opposed to the ongoing JSR-302 memory regions model. Benefits and issues of this approach are discussed through a real use case implementation representing part of a Flight Warning System.

Multicore systems have become standard on desktop computers today and current operating systems and software development tools provide means to actually use the additional computational power efficiently. A more fundamental change, however, is required to fully exploit the power of multicore systems. Furthermore, the fast growing market of embedded systems, up to now, is much less affected by the introduction of parallel technologies. This is already changing quickly today. Tools for efficient development of reliable embedded software are demanded. This is in particular true for tools that are able to guarantee hard real-time requirements.