Designing time-based measurement/control system
View Patent ↗A method for designing a measurement/control system that enables a system designer to explicitly specify the portions of a measurement/control system that are subject to a set of time constraints and the portions of the measurement/control system that are not directly subject to the set of time constraints. A method according to the present teachings includes determining an HRT/SRT boundary between a hard real-time (HRT) portion of a measurement/control system and a soft real-time (SRT) portion of the measurement/control system and determining a buffer for the HTR/SRT boundary in response to a set of time constraints associated with the HRT portion.
1. A method for designing a system, comprising:
specifying a boundary between a hard real-time (HRT) portion of the system and a soft real-time (SRT) portion of the system;
determining a set of parameters for a buffer for the boundary in response to a set of time constraints associated with the HRT portion;
using the set of parameters in designing the system; and
generating a time-script that specifies a set of parameters for a set of behaviors of the HRT portion.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein specifying a boundary includes specifying a boundary between a front-end and a back-end in an instrument.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein specifying a boundary includes specifying a boundary between a set of channels in a front-end of an instrument.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein specifying a boundary includes specifying a boundary in a communication mechanism in the system.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a set of parameters for a buffer includes determining a capacity for the buffer.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising altering the boundary at run-time.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising simulating an operation of the buffer in response to the time constraints.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising allocating a set of tasks of an application program in the system across the boundary.
9. A design system comprising:
a module that enables a designer to specify a boundary between a hard real-time (HRT) portion and a soft real-time (SRT) portion of a system under design and that determines a set of parameters for a buffer for the boundary in response to a set of time constraints associated with the HRT portion, wherein the set of parameters is used to design the system; and
a time-script module that generates a time-script that specifies a set of parameters for a set of behaviors of the HRT portion.
10. The design system of claim 9 , wherein the module enables the designer to specify a boundary between a front-end and a back-end in an instrument.
11. The design system of claim 9 , wherein the module enables the designer to specify a boundary between a set of channels in a front-end of an instrument.
12. The design system of claim 9 , wherein the module enables the designer to specify a boundary in a communication mechanism.
13. The design system of claim 9 , wherein the parameters include a capacity for the buffer.
14. The design system of claim 9 , further comprising a time-script module that generates a time-script that specifies a set of parameters for a set of behaviors of the HRT portion.
15. The design system of claim 9 , wherein the module enables alterations to the boundary at run-time.
16. The design system of claim 9 , further comprising a simulator for simulating an operation of the buffer in response to the time constraints.
17. The design system of claim 9 , further comprising a partition module for allocating a set of tasks of an application program across the boundary.