Synchronized Real-time Communication In The Eclipse Arrowhead Framework

Abstract

Real-time, deterministic communication is a common requirement in most time-critical industrial applications. Due to the increasing complexity, interoperability of such systems must be handled by using appropriate design principles and convenient tools that enhance and ease composability. The Eclipse Arrowhead Framework aims to be a basis for such industrial Cyber-Physical System of Systems by providing a standard for services and enabling interoperability between systems and services. However, precise timing requirements cannot be handled on a service basis as they are closely related to hardware capabilities and the structure of the physical underlying network. This paper addresses this by proposing an extension of the Arrowhead framework to bridge synchronization between instances to the service level without losing any abstraction, thus preserving fundamental achievements of the Arrowhead, such as late binding and loose coupling.