Reconfigurable middleware for heterogeneous embedded devices
Authors
Abstract
Applications for embedded systems are being spread to areas in which easy configuration by non-programmers will enhance acceptance, and also contexts where reconfiguration is needed during the application lifespan. In this paper we propose an architecture designed to provide a single homogeneous configuration interface that allows configuration and operation of any computation-capable node or group of nodes and hides node heterogeneity, as opposed to hand-coding every component of the system for every minor or major configuration change and/or having multiple configuration systems.The main contribution of this paper is how to design a middleware architecture with a single uniform component to work with such heterogeneous underlying parts as a embedded network. This advances the current state-of-the-art in middleware, by providing a single component that abstracts the underlying differences in both devices such as PCs and embedded devices and in communications such as tcp and proprietary stacks to create a global processor. We have successfully applied an embodiment of this concept as middleware component in our lab testbed within EU project. The evaluation shows that our middleware delivers as a truly useful hardware-abstracting configurable processor for application adaptation.