An Object-Oriented Realtime Framework for Distributed Control Systems

This paper presents the "Realtime Framework", a package of software modules for building distributed realtime control systems in robotics and automation. The Realtime Framework covers the areas of client-server communication, control of program flow and modality through messaging and state machines, and low-level input/output. In addition, it contains a real-time utilities package and wrappers for operating system calls, which shield any operating system dependence from the application built on top of the Framework. Software design patterns were used to document solutions for recurring problems in control systems involving several related classes. The Realtime Framework is mostly aimed at increasing software modularity, portability, and reusability, thereby reducing software development costs. This paper gives an overview of the major features of the Realtime Framework and summarizes practical experiences from applying it to a mobile robot control system.