Patient wait times and care service times are key performance measures for care processes in hospitals. Managing the quality of care delivered by these processes in real-time is challenging. A key challenge is to correlate source medical events to infer the care process states that define patient wait times and care service times. Commercially available complex event processing engines do not have built in support for the concept of care process state. This makes it unnecessarily complex to define and maintain rules for inferring states from source medical events in a care process. Another challenge is how to present the data in a real-time BI dashboard and the underlying data model to use to support this BI dashboard. Data representation architecture can potentially lead to delays in processing and presenting the data in the BI dashboard. In this research, we have investigated the problem of real-time monitoring of care processes, performed a gap analysis of current information system support for it, researched and assessed available technologies, and shown how to most effectively leverage event driven and BI architectures when building information support for real-time monitoring of care processes. We introduce a state monitoring engine for inferring and managing states based on an application model for care process monitoring. A BI architecture is also leveraged for the data model to support the real-time data processing and reporting requirements of the application’s portal. The research is validated with a case study to create a real-time care process monitoring application for an Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) clinical pathway in collaboration with IBM and Osler hospital. The research methodology is based on design-oriented research.

Nos últimos anos os sistemas embarcados tem-se tornado notório nos mercados de eletroeletrônicos de consumo, automação industrial e comercial e em veículos em geral. Grande parte destas aplicações possui restrições temporais, sendo assim caracterizadas como sistemas de tempo real embarcado. Atualmente, a computação distribuída tem alcançado este tipo de sistema e por razão principal em custos desses sistemas, alguns barramentos ou redes de comunicação vêm sendo empregados como plataforma de conexão entre módulos eletrônicos. Um exemplo de aplicação de sistemas embarcados distribuídos e de tempo real é a eletrônica embarcada em veículos automotores, onde se encontram várias unidades de controle eletrônico espalhadas interior desses veículos com diferentes funções e se comunicando via rede de comunicação. Algumas pesquisas importantes nesta área já apresentaram diferentes abordagens em sistemas distribuídos de tempo real (SDTR) objetivando cobrir a crescente demanda de desempenho, previsibilidade e confiabilidade dessas aplicações emergentes. Tais requisitos envolvem baixa latência de transmissão, baixa variabilidade no tempo (jitter), tolerância a falhas e suporte para atualizações futuras - flexibilidade. Particularmente na área automotiva, onde é considerada a possibilidade de substituição de dispositivosmecânicos/hidráulicos por sistemas eletrônicos, conhecidos como "by-wire" systems. Assegurar um comportamento previsível e confiável desses sistemas assim como agregar um nível de flexibilidade são características necessárias em grande parte de aplicações de SDTR. O modelo de comunicação FTT (Flexible Time-Triggered) apresentado nesta dissertação, apresenta um alto grau de flexibilidade em relação a outros protocolos, tais como TTCAN, TTP e FlexRay. Um sistema distribuído de tempo real baseado no modelo FTT se adapta às mudanças de requisitos da aplicação em tempo de execução, sendo possível adicionar novas unidades de controle eletrônico sobre a rede após a fase de projeto. Esta característica advém do escalonador dinâmico deste modelo de comunicação. Este trabalho apresenta algumas propostas de melhoria de desempenho de tempo de resposta do protocolo FTT-CAN, descrevendo alguns pontos negligenciados na atual especificação do protocolo. As propostas têm como foco a estratégia de disparo de mensagens e tarefas, sendo a primeira relacionada à transmissão de mensagens síncrona (ou time-triggered), onde existem dois inconvenientes que geram jitter neste segmento de transmissão; a segunda é relacionado ao disparo de tarefas, onde existem algumas deficiências na liberação de tarefas síncronas na atual especificação do protocolo FTT-CAN. / Embedded computing systems have become widely used in many areas. The greater part of those systems has time constraints and therefore they can be characterized as real time embedded systems. Nowadays, distributed computing has reached the embedded application, where some fieldbuses are already being used as communication platforms. Some important researches has presented different approaches in the real time distributed embedded system domain aiming to cover the growing demands of performance, predictability and reliability of emerging applications. Such requirements involve low latency, reduced jitter, time composability, fault-tolerance and support for future extensions – flexibility. Particularly in the automotive area, on which several mechanical and/or hydraulic systems are being replaced by electronic "by-wire"systems, the importance of ensuring predictable behavior while also presenting some degree of flexibility plays a key role. Regarding to the flexibility, the Flexible Time Triggered communication model stands out against the others ones due to its high degree of flexibility. In this context, the FTT communication model appears as an interesting approach due to its high degree of flexibility while still ensuring a deterministic timing behavior. A distributed system based on a FTT communication infrastructure can adapts to changing application requirements, making possible the addition of new messages and nodes during operation. In this way, the communication infrastructure needs to schedule newest messages on-line. This master’s work presents some proposals to improve the FTT-CAN response-time and indicating some drawbacks in already presented approaches. The improvements are concerning messages and tasks scheduling. Despite of its interesting characteristics, FTT CAN present some negative aspects regarding its timing behavior: the issue is on the synchronous message transmission, where there are two neglected points that generate jitter in this traffic; the other one is tasks dispatching, where there are some deficiencies concerning synchronous tasks execution. These disadvantages were not discussed in literature yet. This work presents new proposals to task and message scheduling of FFT-CAN based applications, therefore overcoming some of the main drawbacks of the protocol.

Nos últimos anos os sistemas embarcados tem-se tornado notório nos mercados de eletroeletrônicos de consumo, automação industrial e comercial e em veículos em geral. Grande parte destas aplicações possui restrições temporais, sendo assim caracterizadas como sistemas de tempo real embarcado. Atualmente, a computação distribuída tem alcançado este tipo de sistema e por razão principal em custos desses sistemas, alguns barramentos ou redes de comunicação vêm sendo empregados como plataforma de conexão entre módulos eletrônicos. Um exemplo de aplicação de sistemas embarcados distribuídos e de tempo real é a eletrônica embarcada em veículos automotores, onde se encontram várias unidades de controle eletrônico espalhadas interior desses veículos com diferentes funções e se comunicando via rede de comunicação. Algumas pesquisas importantes nesta área já apresentaram diferentes abordagens em sistemas distribuídos de tempo real (SDTR) objetivando cobrir a crescente demanda de desempenho, previsibilidade e confiabilidade dessas aplicações emergentes. Tais requisitos envolvem baixa latência de transmissão, baixa variabilidade no tempo (jitter), tolerância a falhas e suporte para atualizações futuras - flexibilidade. Particularmente na área automotiva, onde é considerada a possibilidade de substituição de dispositivosmecânicos/hidráulicos por sistemas eletrônicos, conhecidos como "by-wire" systems. Assegurar um comportamento previsível e confiável desses sistemas assim como agregar um nível de flexibilidade são características necessárias em grande parte de aplicações de SDTR. O modelo de comunicação FTT (Flexible Time-Triggered) apresentado nesta dissertação, apresenta um alto grau de flexibilidade em relação a outros protocolos, tais como TTCAN, TTP e FlexRay. Um sistema distribuído de tempo real baseado no modelo FTT se adapta às mudanças de requisitos da aplicação em tempo de execução, sendo possível adicionar novas unidades de controle eletrônico sobre a rede após a fase de projeto. Esta característica advém do escalonador dinâmico deste modelo de comunicação. Este trabalho apresenta algumas propostas de melhoria de desempenho de tempo de resposta do protocolo FTT-CAN, descrevendo alguns pontos negligenciados na atual especificação do protocolo. As propostas têm como foco a estratégia de disparo de mensagens e tarefas, sendo a primeira relacionada à transmissão de mensagens síncrona (ou time-triggered), onde existem dois inconvenientes que geram jitter neste segmento de transmissão; a segunda é relacionado ao disparo de tarefas, onde existem algumas deficiências na liberação de tarefas síncronas na atual especificação do protocolo FTT-CAN. / Embedded computing systems have become widely used in many areas. The greater part of those systems has time constraints and therefore they can be characterized as real time embedded systems. Nowadays, distributed computing has reached the embedded application, where some fieldbuses are already being used as communication platforms. Some important researches has presented different approaches in the real time distributed embedded system domain aiming to cover the growing demands of performance, predictability and reliability of emerging applications. Such requirements involve low latency, reduced jitter, time composability, fault-tolerance and support for future extensions – flexibility. Particularly in the automotive area, on which several mechanical and/or hydraulic systems are being replaced by electronic "by-wire"systems, the importance of ensuring predictable behavior while also presenting some degree of flexibility plays a key role. Regarding to the flexibility, the Flexible Time Triggered communication model stands out against the others ones due to its high degree of flexibility. In this context, the FTT communication model appears as an interesting approach due to its high degree of flexibility while still ensuring a deterministic timing behavior. A distributed system based on a FTT communication infrastructure can adapts to changing application requirements, making possible the addition of new messages and nodes during operation. In this way, the communication infrastructure needs to schedule newest messages on-line. This master’s work presents some proposals to improve the FTT-CAN response-time and indicating some drawbacks in already presented approaches. The improvements are concerning messages and tasks scheduling. Despite of its interesting characteristics, FTT CAN present some negative aspects regarding its timing behavior: the issue is on the synchronous message transmission, where there are two neglected points that generate jitter in this traffic; the other one is tasks dispatching, where there are some deficiencies concerning synchronous tasks execution. These disadvantages were not discussed in literature yet. This work presents new proposals to task and message scheduling of FFT-CAN based applications, therefore overcoming some of the main drawbacks of the protocol.

Nos últimos anos os sistemas embarcados tem-se tornado notório nos mercados de eletroeletrônicos de consumo, automação industrial e comercial e em veículos em geral. Grande parte destas aplicações possui restrições temporais, sendo assim caracterizadas como sistemas de tempo real embarcado. Atualmente, a computação distribuída tem alcançado este tipo de sistema e por razão principal em custos desses sistemas, alguns barramentos ou redes de comunicação vêm sendo empregados como plataforma de conexão entre módulos eletrônicos. Um exemplo de aplicação de sistemas embarcados distribuídos e de tempo real é a eletrônica embarcada em veículos automotores, onde se encontram várias unidades de controle eletrônico espalhadas interior desses veículos com diferentes funções e se comunicando via rede de comunicação. Algumas pesquisas importantes nesta área já apresentaram diferentes abordagens em sistemas distribuídos de tempo real (SDTR) objetivando cobrir a crescente demanda de desempenho, previsibilidade e confiabilidade dessas aplicações emergentes. Tais requisitos envolvem baixa latência de transmissão, baixa variabilidade no tempo (jitter), tolerância a falhas e suporte para atualizações futuras - flexibilidade. Particularmente na área automotiva, onde é considerada a possibilidade de substituição de dispositivosmecânicos/hidráulicos por sistemas eletrônicos, conhecidos como "by-wire" systems. Assegurar um comportamento previsível e confiável desses sistemas assim como agregar um nível de flexibilidade são características necessárias em grande parte de aplicações de SDTR. O modelo de comunicação FTT (Flexible Time-Triggered) apresentado nesta dissertação, apresenta um alto grau de flexibilidade em relação a outros protocolos, tais como TTCAN, TTP e FlexRay. Um sistema distribuído de tempo real baseado no modelo FTT se adapta às mudanças de requisitos da aplicação em tempo de execução, sendo possível adicionar novas unidades de controle eletrônico sobre a rede após a fase de projeto. Esta característica advém do escalonador dinâmico deste modelo de comunicação. Este trabalho apresenta algumas propostas de melhoria de desempenho de tempo de resposta do protocolo FTT-CAN, descrevendo alguns pontos negligenciados na atual especificação do protocolo. As propostas têm como foco a estratégia de disparo de mensagens e tarefas, sendo a primeira relacionada à transmissão de mensagens síncrona (ou time-triggered), onde existem dois inconvenientes que geram jitter neste segmento de transmissão; a segunda é relacionado ao disparo de tarefas, onde existem algumas deficiências na liberação de tarefas síncronas na atual especificação do protocolo FTT-CAN. / Embedded computing systems have become widely used in many areas. The greater part of those systems has time constraints and therefore they can be characterized as real time embedded systems. Nowadays, distributed computing has reached the embedded application, where some fieldbuses are already being used as communication platforms. Some important researches has presented different approaches in the real time distributed embedded system domain aiming to cover the growing demands of performance, predictability and reliability of emerging applications. Such requirements involve low latency, reduced jitter, time composability, fault-tolerance and support for future extensions – flexibility. Particularly in the automotive area, on which several mechanical and/or hydraulic systems are being replaced by electronic "by-wire"systems, the importance of ensuring predictable behavior while also presenting some degree of flexibility plays a key role. Regarding to the flexibility, the Flexible Time Triggered communication model stands out against the others ones due to its high degree of flexibility. In this context, the FTT communication model appears as an interesting approach due to its high degree of flexibility while still ensuring a deterministic timing behavior. A distributed system based on a FTT communication infrastructure can adapts to changing application requirements, making possible the addition of new messages and nodes during operation. In this way, the communication infrastructure needs to schedule newest messages on-line. This master’s work presents some proposals to improve the FTT-CAN response-time and indicating some drawbacks in already presented approaches. The improvements are concerning messages and tasks scheduling. Despite of its interesting characteristics, FTT CAN present some negative aspects regarding its timing behavior: the issue is on the synchronous message transmission, where there are two neglected points that generate jitter in this traffic; the other one is tasks dispatching, where there are some deficiencies concerning synchronous tasks execution. These disadvantages were not discussed in literature yet. This work presents new proposals to task and message scheduling of FFT-CAN based applications, therefore overcoming some of the main drawbacks of the protocol.

Patient wait times and care service times are key performance measures for care processes in hospitals. Managing the quality of care delivered by these processes in real-time is challenging. A key challenge is to correlate source medical events to infer the care process states that define patient wait times and care service times. Commercially available complex event processing engines do not have built in support for the concept of care process state. This makes it unnecessarily complex to define and maintain rules for inferring states from source medical events in a care process. Another challenge is how to present the data in a real-time BI dashboard and the underlying data model to use to support this BI dashboard. Data representation architecture can potentially lead to delays in processing and presenting the data in the BI dashboard. In this research, we have investigated the problem of real-time monitoring of care processes, performed a gap analysis of current information system support for it, researched and assessed available technologies, and shown how to most effectively leverage event driven and BI architectures when building information support for real-time monitoring of care processes. We introduce a state monitoring engine for inferring and managing states based on an application model for care process monitoring. A BI architecture is also leveraged for the data model to support the real-time data processing and reporting requirements of the application’s portal. The research is validated with a case study to create a real-time care process monitoring application for an Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) clinical pathway in collaboration with IBM and Osler hospital. The research methodology is based on design-oriented research.

In this thesis, we present a MAC-layer packet scheduling algorithm, called Best-effort Packet Scheduling Algorithm(BPA), for real-time switched Ethernet networks. BPA considers a message model where application messages have trans-node timeliness requirements that are specified using Jensen's benefit functions. The algorithm seeks to maximize aggregate message benefit by allowing message packets to inherit benefit functions of their parent messages and scheduling packets to maximize aggregate packet-level benefit. Since the packet scheduling problem is NP-hard, BPA heuristically computes schedules with a worst-case cost of O(n^2), faster than the O(n^3) cost of the best known Chen and Muhlethaler's Algorithm(CMA) for the same problem. Our simulation studies show that BPA performs the same or significantly better than CMA. We also construct a real-time switched Ethernet by prototyping an Ethernet switch using a Personal Computer(PC) and implementing BPA in the network protocol stack of the Linux kernel for packet scheduling. Our actual performance measurements of BPA using the network implementation reveal the effectiveness of the algorithm. Finally, we derive timeliness feasibility conditions of real-time switched Ethernet systems that use the BPA algorithm. The feasibility conditions allow real-time distributed systems to be constructed using BPA, with guaranteed soft timeliness. / Master of Science

No description available.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 18-21, 2004 / Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California / The Modular Range Interface (ModRI) is a reliable networked data acquisition system used to acquire and disseminate dissimilar data. ModRI’s purpose is to connect TSPI systems to a central computer network. The modular hardware design consists of an SBC, COTS network interfaces, and other COTS interfaces in a VME form factor. The modular software design uses C++ and OO patterns running under an RTOS. Current capabilities of ModRI include acquisition of Ethernet, PCM data, RS-422/232 serial data, and IRIG-B time. Future strategies might include stand-alone data acquisition, acquisition of digital video, and migration to other architectures and operating systems.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 18-21, 2004 / Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California / This paper describes the TENA architecture, which has been proposed by the Foundation Initiative 2010 (FI 2010) project as the basis for future US Test Range software systems. The benefits of this new architecture are explained by comparing the future TENA-enabled range infrastructure with the current situation of largely non-interoperable range resources. Legacy equipment and newly acquired off-the-shelf equipment that does not directly support TENA can be integrated into a TENA environment using TENA Gateways. This paper focuses on issues related to the construction of such gateways, including the important issue of real-time requirements when dealing with real-world data acquisition instruments. The benefits of leveraging commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Data Acquisition Systems that are based on true real-time operating systems are discussed in the context of TENA Gateway construction.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The Western Aeronautical Test Range (WATR) Integrated Next Generation System (WINGS) Mission Segment provides data acquisition, processing, display and storage in support of each project’s mission at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC). The network architecture for WINGS Mission Segment is responsible for distributing a variety of information from the Telemetry and Radar Acquisition and Processing System (TRAPS), which is responsible for data acquisition and processing, to the Mission Control Centers (MCCs) for display of data to the user. WINGS consists of three TRAPS and four MCCs, where any TRAPS can drive any one or multiple MCCs. This paper will address the requirements for the TRAPS/MCC network and the design solution.