[Truncated abstract] The accelerating pace of convergence of communications from disparate application types onto common packet networks has made quality of service an increasingly important and problematic issue. Applications of different classes have diverse service requirements at distinct levels of importance. Also, these applications offer traffic to the network with widely variant characteristics. Yet a common network is expected at all times to meet the individual communication requirements of each flow from all of these application types. One group of applications that has particularly critical service requirements is the class of real-time applications, such as packet telephony. They require both the reproduction of a specified timing sequence at the destination, and nearly instantaneous interaction between the users at the endpoints. The associated delay limits (in terms of upper bound and variation) must be consistently met; at every point where these are violated, the network transfer becomes worthless, as the data cannot be used at all. In contrast, other types of applications may suffer appreciable deterioration in quality of service as a result of slower transfer, but the goal of the transfer can still largely be met. The goal of this thesis is to evaluate the potential effectiveness of a class of packet scheduling algorithms in meeting the specific service requirements of real-time applications in a converged network environment. Since the proposal of Weighted Fair Queueing, there have been several schedulers suggested to be capable of meeting the divergent service requirements of both real-time and other data applications. ... This simulation study also sheds light on false assumptions that can be made about the isolation produced by start-time and finish-time schedulers based on the deterministic bounds obtained. The key contributions of this work are as follows. We clearly show how the definition of the virtual time function affects both delay bounds and delay distributions for a real-time flow in a converged network, and how optimality is achieved. Despite apparent indications to the contrary from delay bounds, the simulation analysis demonstrates that start-time rate-based schedulers possess useful characteristics for real-time flows that the traditional finish-time schedulers do not. Finally, it is shown that all the virtual time rate-based schedulers considered can produce isolation problems over multiple hops in networks with high loading. It becomes apparent that the benchmark First-Come-First-Served scheduler, with spacing and call admission control at the network ingresses, is a preferred arrangement for real-time flows (although lower priority levels would also need to be implemented for dealing with other data flows).

Thèse (M.Eng.) -- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 2003. / Bibliogr.: f. 182-187. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

The effectiveness of tour destination selection is dependent on pre-visit information sources. As competition increases in the tourism industry, destination organisations need to improve current destination selection processes. Research on current processes indicate that information sources accessed by potential tourists when making travel decisions may not be a true reflection of what the destination is offering. Any negative difference between perceived images during pre-visit and real images during the actual visit may result in poor destination reputation and dissatisfied customers. This research addresses this gap by improving the process of destination selection using a real-time data streaming mediation technique as an additional pre-visit information source. The researcher adopted a social-technologist research paradigm and a design-science approach. The research process was executed in three phases; the first phase focused on gathering knowledge on destination selection and pre-visit information sources. The findings in Phase 1 were used in Phase 2 to develop and test the performance of a prototype. Phase 3 involved the evaluation of the prototype tool in a real-world setting. One of the main outcomes of this research is the development of a destination selection framework using real-time data streaming mediation and a tool (http://www.tourcamportal.com) as proof of concept. This research has shown that real-time images are valuable pre-visit information sources when making travel decisions. Real-time images authenticate destination attractions, provide real-time availability of destinations, reduce speculations on destination attractions, and provide actual representations of destinations. The findings of this study contribute the body of knowledge and practice in the tourism sector and provide new areas for further research. / Computing / D. Phil. (Information Systems)

O Dyretiva é um método desenvolvido para utilização na fase de testes de sistemas embarcados operando em tempo real e, em especial, na verificação das restrições temporais do sistema. Como a fase de testes situa-se no final do processo de desenvolvimento, quando o hardware está disponível e o software codificado, a verificação temporal é feita por meio de monitoração do sistema sob teste. As principais premissas do Dyretiva são considerar a limitação de recursos dos sistemas embarcados e as características intrínsecas dos sistemas em tempo real. O método é definido por uma abordagem de monitoração e por um modelo de falta. A abordagem de monitoração define a interface física e lógica necessárias para observar o sistema sob teste, bem como as estratégias de utilização que permitem otimizar a coleta de dados. O modelo de falta identifica as relações e componentes do sistema onde existe maior probabilidade de encontrar os erros procurados. Para demonstrar os conceitos do Dyretiva, um conjunto de ferramentas de apoio a aplicação do método foi construído. Este conjunto, chamado de SoftScope, é composto por seis ferramentas: um pré-instrumentador de código, um instrumentador de código, um monitor, um programa de controle do monitor, programas para filtragem e análise dos dados capturados e um programa de visualização dos resultados. O Dyretiva e o SoftScope são parte integrante do projeto PERF, que está em andamento no LIT (Laboratório de Inovação e Tecnologia em Sistemas Embarcados) da UTFPR (Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná), cujo objetivo é construir um ambiente completo para o desenvolvimento de sistemas embarcados operando em tempo real. / The Dyretiva is a method used for verifying the time constraints of embedded realtime systems. The verification is performed by monitoring the embedded software when it is running in an embedded hardware. The Dyretiva method takes into account the resource constrained nature of embedded systems and the time bounded nature of real-time systems. The method is comprised by a monitoring approach and a fault model. The monitoring approach defines the physical and the logical interfaces used in the observation of the system under test, as well as the strategies used for an optimized trace data collection. The fault model identifies relationships and components of the system under test that are most likely to have time faults. To demonstrate Dyretiva concepts, a set of support tools called SoftScope has been developed. SoftScope is comprised of a source code pre-instrumentation tool, a source code instrumentation tool, a hybrid monitor, a program for controlling the hybrid monitor, programs for filtering and analyzing trace data, and a graphical presentation tool. The Dyretiva method and the SoftScope tool set are an integral part of the work-inprogress PERF project, which is under development in the LIT (Laboratory of Embedded Systems Innovation and Technology), at the UTFPR (Federal Technological University of Paraná State). The objective of the PERF project is to build a complete environment suitable for the development of embedded and real-time systems.

O Dyretiva é um método desenvolvido para utilização na fase de testes de sistemas embarcados operando em tempo real e, em especial, na verificação das restrições temporais do sistema. Como a fase de testes situa-se no final do processo de desenvolvimento, quando o hardware está disponível e o software codificado, a verificação temporal é feita por meio de monitoração do sistema sob teste. As principais premissas do Dyretiva são considerar a limitação de recursos dos sistemas embarcados e as características intrínsecas dos sistemas em tempo real. O método é definido por uma abordagem de monitoração e por um modelo de falta. A abordagem de monitoração define a interface física e lógica necessárias para observar o sistema sob teste, bem como as estratégias de utilização que permitem otimizar a coleta de dados. O modelo de falta identifica as relações e componentes do sistema onde existe maior probabilidade de encontrar os erros procurados. Para demonstrar os conceitos do Dyretiva, um conjunto de ferramentas de apoio a aplicação do método foi construído. Este conjunto, chamado de SoftScope, é composto por seis ferramentas: um pré-instrumentador de código, um instrumentador de código, um monitor, um programa de controle do monitor, programas para filtragem e análise dos dados capturados e um programa de visualização dos resultados. O Dyretiva e o SoftScope são parte integrante do projeto PERF, que está em andamento no LIT (Laboratório de Inovação e Tecnologia em Sistemas Embarcados) da UTFPR (Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná), cujo objetivo é construir um ambiente completo para o desenvolvimento de sistemas embarcados operando em tempo real. / The Dyretiva is a method used for verifying the time constraints of embedded realtime systems. The verification is performed by monitoring the embedded software when it is running in an embedded hardware. The Dyretiva method takes into account the resource constrained nature of embedded systems and the time bounded nature of real-time systems. The method is comprised by a monitoring approach and a fault model. The monitoring approach defines the physical and the logical interfaces used in the observation of the system under test, as well as the strategies used for an optimized trace data collection. The fault model identifies relationships and components of the system under test that are most likely to have time faults. To demonstrate Dyretiva concepts, a set of support tools called SoftScope has been developed. SoftScope is comprised of a source code pre-instrumentation tool, a source code instrumentation tool, a hybrid monitor, a program for controlling the hybrid monitor, programs for filtering and analyzing trace data, and a graphical presentation tool. The Dyretiva method and the SoftScope tool set are an integral part of the work-inprogress PERF project, which is under development in the LIT (Laboratory of Embedded Systems Innovation and Technology), at the UTFPR (Federal Technological University of Paraná State). The objective of the PERF project is to build a complete environment suitable for the development of embedded and real-time systems.

Real-time conferencing and collaborative computing is a great way to make developers more effective. This project is a collaborative framework development comprising configurable client and server components.

Multitasking systems are being used increasingly for real-time applications. Multitasking is suited very well for real-time systems since events in the real world do not occur in strict sequence but rather tend to overlap. Multitasking operating systems coordinate the activities of the different overlapping functions and give the user the appearance of concurrent activity. The coordination and scheduling is performed according to a user defined order of importance or priority. There are many multi tasking operating systems available for all the popular microprocessors. One such multitasking executive is VRTX/86 for the 8086 microprocessor. This executive comes in a PROM and is independent of any specific hardware configuration. Using this executive the IBM PC has been converted into a multitasking environment and multitasking test programs have been executed on the PC. A general methodology for defining tasks and assigning priorities to these tasks has been defined. Using this methodology a typical real-time application called a Vehicle Instrumentation System was developed. / M.S.

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