OpenSplice DDS Data Distribution Service Overview

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Real-Time DDS Middleware and Tools for Mission-critical systems
• Graphical Modeling and Code Generation Tools
• Real-Time operating environment
• Scalability from embedded to enterprise systems
• Fault tolerant information availability
• Run-time and remote monitoring tools
• Professional Services

PrismTech’s OpenSplice DDS Data Distribution for Mission-Critical Systems

PrismTech’s OpenSplice DDS middleware and tools suite has been designed by a team of experienced C4I practitioners; mission-critical systems domain experts. Based on the premise that the best tools are built by people who need them, the OpenSplice DDS suite delivers the functionality needed by developers of net-centric systems, where the Real-Time (RT) availability of information is fundamental to acceptable system performance.

When information originating from multiple sources must be distributed and made available based on strict Quality of Service (QoS) criteria, OpenSplice DDS is the best development and deployment suite available. Supporting the OMG’s Data Distribution Service (DDS) specification, benefiting from 30 + man years of mission-critical systems development experience, and based on proven software deployed in over 15 armed services worldwide, OpenSplice DDS is truly, ‘by RT developers for RT developers’.

The diagram depicts an OpenSplice DDS based example mission system from the information, application and deployment viewpoints. Each viewpoint being explicitly supported by a matching modeling tool from the OpenSplice DDS MDD suite.

‘Real-Time’ Data Distribution Enables Operational Advantage

To ensure operational advantage, mission-critical systems increasingly require distributed, RT information availability for applications ranging from small-scale embedded control systems to large-scale ‘enterprise’ information management systems. Information stemming from multiple sensors in these systems must be distributed in a reliable and timely manner to multiple software components, that will combine, fuse and process this information in order to either present it to human operators or use it to control multiple distributed actuators ‘on time’ and in a safe manner.

Furthermore, demanding fault-tolerance and other QoS requirements are also pushing developers to look beyond traditional middleware technologies (e.g. non-RT publish subscribe or service-oriented client-server) for acceptable solutions. These requirements are increasingly seen in application domains such as combat management and surveillance systems for military services, air traffic control systems in civil aviation and supervisor control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems in industrial control.

Fortunately, OpenSplice DDS is now providing a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution for these demanding netcentric systems. No longer do systems providers have to design, build and support in-house proprietary middleware, nor do they have to rely entirely on PrismTech’s world-class team; OpenSplice DDS' adherence to the DDS open standard ensures customers benefit from the industry-wide participation in formulating the standard for mission-critical RT middleware.

OpenSplice DDS middleware: A standards-based, fault-tolerant, RT information
backbone; clearly differentiated from other DDS implementations

Offering much more than traditional publish-subscribe messaging middleware, OpenSplice DDS provides a true RT ‘information backbone’ ensuring the right information is available in the right place at the right time; much more than just the efficient messaging in traditional publish-subscribe middleware products.

For superior performance and scalability, OpenSplice DDS utilizes a shared-memory architecture: data is physically present only once on any machine, but smart administration still provides any subscriber with ‘his’ own private view of this data. This shared-memory architecture results in an extremely low footprint, excellent scalability and optimal performance.

For superior fault-tolerance, OpenSplice DDS provides fault-tolerant availability of transient information. This is a unique capability of OpenSplice DDS, allowing ‘late joining’ applications (e.g. due to restart or reallocation) to retain a correct state – through an advanced, yet proven, implementation of the DDS specification’s transient QoS policy.

For superior support of pre-existing application code, OpenSplice DDS supports C, C++, and Java™ language bindings and can thus be integrated with minimum effort into existing, heterogeneous and hybrid systems.

For superior optimization, the OpenSplice DDS run-time system offers a ‘pluggable’ service architecture. This means one can ‘plug-in’ specialized versions of services; such as the networking service (e.g. using custom transports) or the durability service (e.g. using user-defined persistent storage: like a RDBMS instead of a ‘flat’ XML-file). This feature thus supports selective deployment to further reduce footprint, enhance performance or exploit specialized services.

Furthermore, OpenSplice DDS does not impose a proprietary API. OpenSplice DDS fully conforms to the OMG’s DDS open standard which encapsulates broad industry input in defining a coherent set of ‘profiles’ that define QoS.

In summary, superior performance, scalability; fault tolerance, legacy support and flexibility; standards-compliance; a mission systems heritage and proven robustness; and the global support and expertise of PrismTech’s acknowledged domain experts. OpenSplice DDS is clearly the superior DDS compliant middleware.

OpenSplice DDS Tools: From Technology to Exceptional Productivity

Beyond its best-in-class RT middleware core, the OpenSplice DDS suite offers advanced features and unique development tools to provide unrivalled ease-of-use, productivity and code correctness (robustness and standard-compliance) for developers.

From its advanced ‘data local reconstruction layer’ (DLRL) implementation (which provides an object-oriented view on a set of ‘topics’), to its development lifecycle information and application modeling tools, to its run-time monitoring and management tools, OpenSplice DDS provides the best DDS-compliant application development and deployment interface available.

OpenSplice DDS information-modeling tools help to efficiently define the information to be exchanged and the related QoS policies regarding delivery, urgency and durability.

OpenSplice DDS' application-modeling tools define and autogenerate the DDS entity and application framework code. This greatly improves developer productivity as well as lowering defect rates.

OpenSplice DDS' deployment modeling and run-time monitoring & maintenance tools provide total remote control over the deployed DDS system.

OpenSplice DDS tools support is provided for developers who are developing in a ‘top-down’ manner (starting from a UML model and using DLRL), as well as users who are developing ‘bottom-up’ with an existing Data-Centric Publish-Subscribe (DCPS) topic model.

Finally, systems integration and evolution are supported by the run-time monitoring tools being fully integrated with the design-time modeling tools, thus supporting real ‘round-trip’ engineering capability.

OpenSplice DDS Professional Services

Product training, technology familiarization, developer mentoring, optimization techniques and other consulting services, as well as comprehensive application and infrastructure software outsourcing options – all leveraging PrismTech’s staff’s 30+ man-years of development experience in mission-critical systems. Finally, OpenSplice DDS also benefits from PrismTech’s renowned product support and maintenance services (to 24 x7).

About PrismTech

PrismTech is a leading ISV supplying software productivity tools and run-time middleware to the mission-critical, Real-Time, systems developer community. Our new OpenSplice DDS product line addresses the complete software development and deployment lifecycle and supports faster time-to market, lower costs, and higher quality over traditional Real-Time distributed systems development. PrismTech’s tools support these business benefits by facilitating:
• more efficient application development: through the use of graphical modeling tools and the automatic code generation of source code, tests and documentation.
• more efficient application deployment and flexibility: through the provision of highly-efficient, Real-Time middleware fully compliant with the OMG’s Data Distribution Service for Real-Time Systems Standard (DDS).
• more efficient system test, monitoring, control and maintenance from any local or remote platform that supports the Java™ language: through the use of tools that, for example, allow the creation of publishers / writers and subscribers / readers ‘on the fly’, to help optimize data latency, persistence, durability, etc.

The OpenSplice DDS product line incorporates advanced technologies and applicable Standards to dramatically simplify and speed-up the development process and yet ensure high-quality, low-overhead solutions. PrismTech believes that accelerating Real-Time systems deployment requires ISVs to provide COTS tools and middleware to systems builders that immediately address cost, time-to-market and flexibility issues, as well as providing the best Real-Time, distributed systems performance possible. PrismTech has designed its OpenSplice DDS products to address exactly these short-term business benefits in the context of complex, Real-Time, mission-critical systems.

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