The Golden Gate Project: Real-Time Java in Space

Abstract: Over the past few years there has been a trend in the embedded software development community to move software development to more advanced object-oriented languages and runtimes. The movement is occasioned by a systemic increase in the complexity and size of the software required by commercially successful embedded devices. One of the distinguishing characteristics of embedded software is that it requires predictable execution of logic, i.e., it is real-time. A spacecraft is an interesting example of an embedded system. Indeed, NASA/Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratories faces significant software engineering challenges due to (1) the complexity of planned missions, (2) the lack of an overarching software architecture for spacecraft, and (3) the lack of advanced real-time programming languages and runtimes. The Golden Gate project, Sun Microsystems Laboratories, JPL, and Carnegie Mellon University, will attempt to implement a software architecture developed at JPL for spacecraft (the Mission Data System (MDS)) using the Real-Time Specification for Java (an advanced real-time software development language and runtime). This talk explores the challenges and goals of the Golden Gate project.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Greg Bollella, Principal Investigator for Real-Time Java at Sun Microsystems Laboratories , has been interested in algorithms and software architectures that support the deterministic execution of logic within general-purpose operating systems and virtual machines since 1992. While a Senior Architect at IBM, he led the Real-Time for Java Expert Group under the Java Community Process which developed the Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ). At Sun Labs, he continues to be actively involved in internal and external projects which support the RTSJ, especially in architectures for the emerging sensor industry. He concurrently holds a position at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories as Distinguished Visiting Scientist and is working on developing software architectures for spacecraft. Greg holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His dissertation research is in real-time scheduling theory and real-time systems implementation.