CONTROLSHELL - A SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE FOR COMPLEX ELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS

Real-time system software is notoriously complex. Large projects must balance the special needs of real-time software-such as clock manageme nt, control systems, and strategy-with the needs of interacting teams of programmers, managers, and long-term maintenance personnel. Success ful projects require a solid software architecture, an intuitive graph ical programming paradigm, a well-developed reuse system, and powerful system services. This paper walks through the methodology and applica tion of ControlShell, the component-based real-time programming system . ControlShell provides an integrated development environment for buil ding complex electromechanical systems. II targets complex systems tha t require both cyclic data processing and strategic event management a nd sequencing. ControlShell is specifically designed to facilitate tea m development of complex electromechanical systems. Teams must share a nd reuse code; ControlShell provides component-level code sharing and reuse. Complex systems require flexibility; ControlShell gains flexibi lity by supporting independent module-level code generation. Large sys tems are most easily designed as independent parts; ControlShell encou rages easy interconnectivity of objects. Finally, complex systems are modal; ControlShell features a unique configuration-control system for changing operating modes. The paper concludes by examining the applic ation of this framework to a dual-arm robotic work cell, a subsystem o f the Space Shuttle Launch Processing System, and an underwater autono mous vehicle.