PrismTech

High Performance Message Processing for FPGAs

Spectra IP Core ORB (ICO) is a hardware implementation of CORBA’s GIOP protocol and is part of PrismTech’s Spectra Common Data Bus (CDB) range of high performance embedded messaging solutions. ICO provides an implementation of the GIOP protocol at the gate level and by supporting a highly optimized subset of ORB features it is now possible to provide a single, seamless industry standard data protocol across processor architectures. Specifically designed to support high performance Software Defined Radio (SDR) applications based on the JTRS’ Software Communications Architecture (SCA), ICO can just as easily be used as a general purpose integration solution for use in embedded FPGA applications with no SCA requirements.

FPGA Integration Has Never Been Easier

ICO is used as a GIOP message processing engine for FPGAs and ASICS, enabling a standard protocol to be run across multiple processor architectures (GPP, DSP and FPGA). This reduces the need to support custom protocols and proprietary interfaces. These non standard types of interface in an FPGA environment are often referred to as Hardware Abstraction Layers (HALs). The major problem with the HAL approach is that they are difficult to implement and maintain and require the hardware developer to understand the low level details of each proprietary messaging protocol. They also need to be re-written if the underlying hardware changes reducing application portability and increasing time to market and cost for new applications.

ICO further eliminates the need to embed general purpose processing cores into FPGAs in order to offer software ORB capability. Although a viable approach, this approach tends to require significant gate count and memory utilization and generally these processing cores cannot be clocked fast enough to deal with the ever-increasing performance requirements of SDR applications.

ICO has been written in portable VHDL that can be synthesized onto any FPGA or ASIC device.

The ICO development environment consists of:

• The ICO IP core message processing engine
• IDL to VHDL Compiler
• A number of board specific example transports
• Supporting user documentation

ICO was designed to be modular and configurable. Figure 1 below provides an illustration of ICO’s architecture. Components shown in yellow are provided as part of the ICO core, components in blue are generated by the IDL to VHDL compiler for each specific design.

Most Efficient Use of FPGA Resources

An ICO design consumes the minimum amount of logic required to support the message processing requirements for each interface and no more. The ICO IDL compiler generates Meta Data for a specific design that is used by the ICO Core to process each message in the most efficient way possible. Typically to implement a  single instance of a servant that can support a simple interface requires approximately 3% (3000 logic elements) of available logic on a mid sized FPGA (e.g., Altera Cyclone III). The majority of the logic is used by the ICO IP Core processing engine, adding additional servant instances adds only a small amount (approximately 0.2%) of extra logic. Memory consumption depends on the size of the message payload.

Figure 1 - ICO Architecture

Super Fast Message Processing

ICO processes CORBA GIOP messages at hardware speeds which is hundreds of times faster than can be achieved with a conventional software ORB. For example, for a simple interface that supports a two-way synchronous CORBA call and is passed a payload of 1024 bytes as an IN parameter (implemented on a Altera Cyclone III FPGA, clocked at 100MHz), it takes approximately 3µS to process the message from the first byte of the incoming message being read by ICO from the transport to the last byte of the reply message being written to the transport by ICO. This represents a data throughput of over 350Mbytes/sec. At higher clock speeds the data throughput rate can be increased even further.

ICO Key Features

• Supports GIOP version 1.0 protocol
• Processes incoming CORBA requests
  • One way operations
  • Two way operations
• Support for CORBA clients and servers
  • Clients can be internal to the FPGA written in VHDL or external to FPGA (e.g., on a GPP or DSP) implemented by a conventional software application
  • Servants implemented on FPGA in VHDL
  • No arbitrary restriction on the number of clients and servers that can be supported on the FPGA
• IDL compiler support
  • Supports IDL to VHDL language mapping and will auto generate VHDL equivalent of CORBA stubs and skeletons allowing ICO to be easily connected to servants implementing waveform logic
    • Based on CORBA 3 grammar, but only supporting a subset of data types and constructs
      • Simple data types - Char, Octet, Boolean,  Short, Unsigned Short, Long, Unsigned Long, Long Long, Unsigned Long Long, String
      • Enumerated Types
      • Complex data types
        • Struct
        • Sequence
      • CORBA exceptions support
        • User exceptions
        • System exceptions
• Pluggable and open transport interface allows user-defined custom transports to be plugged into ICO
• Written in pure VHDL and portable across FPGA devices

FPGA Device Coverage

Spectra ICO was written in 100% VHDL and is designed to be portable so that a wide range of FPGAs and ASICS can be supported. ICO currently supports the leading FPGA devices from Xilinx and Altera. For the most up to date list of supported FPGAs please Contact PrismTech.

SCA Everywhere

Spectra CDB provides the only SCA-compliant CORBA solution that is available across not only GPP, but also DSP and FPGA processing environments. This complete processor coverage has been made possible through the development of specialized CORBA middleware technology designed to support DSPs and FPGAs with Spectra ICO. PrismTech has pioneered the use of lightweight ORB technology for DSPs and advanced hardware ORB technology for FPGAs. The Spectra approach helps decouple SDR applications from the underlying hardware, making hardware upgrades much more straightforward as well as maximizing waveform application portability.

Complementary SDR Products

Spectra ICO is part of the most complete family of SDR products and technologies designed to support all of your SCA SDR development needs.

Expert Professional Services

PrismTech offers a range of training courses on the SCA, SDR technologies and their implementation using PrismTech’s Spectra SDR products. We also offer professional services conducted by leading industry experts in all skill areas required for FPGA design and SCA radio development. PrismTech is also renowned for the quality and responsiveness of our Support and Maintenance Services that are available on a worldwide 24x7 basis where required.

Summary of Spectra ICO Benefits

• High performance standards based messaging for FPGAs
• Greatly simplifies FPGA application integration
• Helps support FPGA application portability
• High throughput low latency messaging solution
• Helps reduce time to market for new FPGA applications
• Low footprint - efficient use of available FPGA resources
• Available as part of a complete range of complementary SDR products
• Can support a unified messaging protocol across GPP, DSP and FPGA processing elements
• Can support a broad range of FPGA devices from the leading vendors
• No export restrictions - not subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) export restrictions

Please Contact PrismTech for further information about Spectra ICO.

PrismTech's Spectra embedded middleware product range is the first fully interoperable CORBA solution that can support a high performance, resource efficient, standards based communication backbone not only targeting General Purpose Processing (GPP) environments, but also for the highly specialized Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) processing environments commonly found in advanced real-time signal processing systems. For example, across processor sets in a radio’s signal processing subsystem as used in a Software Defined Radio compliant with the JTRS SCA standard.

Spectra ORB is unique in that it offers a fully interoperable solution for GPPs and DSPs. Its greatest strength is its totally modular micro kernel architecture that incurs possibly the smallest footprint of any CORBA implementation. Spectra ORB is uniquely available in both C and C++ versions.

• [+]C Edition Standard

  Smallest Footprint, Unrivalled Performance

  Spectra ORB C Edition brings an open standard solution to the Digital Signal Processor (DSP), micro controller & network processor world. Adhering to the latest OMG minimumCORBA specification and to the C Language mapping, the product implementation is 100% POSIX compatible and written in pure ANSI C ensuring easy portability to any target platform.

  Spectra ORB is a member of PrismTech’s growing family of Wireless Software Infrastructure products and comprises a suite of SCA-compliant, high-performance, low-footprint CORBA ORBs and related Common Object Services. Spectra ORB has been designed and optimized for use in software-defined radio and other low profile, resource-constrained environments. Spectra ORB is unique in offering a fully interoperable solution for GPPs, DSPs and FPGAs (e.g. in a radio’s signal processing subsystem).

  Benefits

  Tiny Footprint - The smallest, CORBA-compliant ORB available today, Spectra ORB C Edition’s configurable, modular architecture enables you to use only what you need and no more.

  Highly Efficient - With only 10 per cent overhead over raw sockets, the performance of Spectra ORB C Edition allows you to take CORBA to ever more demanding applications.

  Highly Performant - Optimized for small embedded systems and designed for next generation aerospace, defense and telecommunication applications.

  Scalable - Spectra ORB C Edition is at its best in a high performance environment. As the number of clients, servers, and messages increases, performance degradation is minimal. This allows you to utilize Spectra ORBC Edition in rapidly growing and changing applications, confident that the ORB will not constrain performance.

  Portable - Spectra ORB C Edition provides platform independent frameworks for exceptions, memory management, mutexes, and threading so you can develop on one platform (such as Windows NT) and deploy on another (such as VxWorks). Available on an extensive set of platforms from hand held devices up to high performance multi-card packages, Spectra ORB C Edition supports application developers across an unusually wide range of architectures.

  Proven - Spectra ORB C Edition boasts a heritage of many years of use in commercial deployments in mission critical environments.

  Superior Support - Online support, updates, 24x7 support option, training, mentoring and outsourcing options are available.

  Key Features

  • Fully compliant with OMG’s minimumCORBA v1.0 specification and the JTRS’s Software Communication Architecture (SCA) v2.2.1 specification
  • IDL to C compiler
  • GIOP
  • IIOP (TCP/IP) protocol
  • Extensible Transport Framework (ETF) - providing multi-transport plug-in support, for transports such as UDP, Compact PCI
  • User definable custom memory allocation, de-allocation OR native C mechanisms
  • Extensible highly scalable plug-in POA architecture (including child POA)
  • Multi-thread safe
  • Extensive configurable core and plug-in module logging and tracing including GIOP trace dumps for detailed developer analysis
  • Extensible server-side threading framework
  • Optional RT-CORBA 1.0 API plug-in support and proven internal real-time engine
  • Request timeouts

  Supporting CORBA Services:

  • Spectra Lightweight Naming, Event and Log Services

  Standard supported Platforms:

  • VxWorks
  • Integrity
  • ThreadX
  • TI BIOS
  • Windows NT
  • Linux
  • Solaris

  Spectra ORB C Edition can be made available on many other target RTOSs. Please contact PrismTech for details.

  Summary: The Spectra ORB C Edition Advantage

  • Smallest footprint and overhead
  • More efficient use of resources
  • Faster throughput
  • An ORB specifically designed for SDR and other resource constrained embedded and real-time applications
  • The best ORB for SCA-compliant development
  • The most open and configurable architecture
  • No functional “black boxes” (inflexible and limiting designs)
  • Complimentary SDR products and wireless software solutions
  • Support from a flexible, responsive and supportive middleware partner

• [+]C Edition DSP

  PrismTech has achieved a major breakthrough by porting Spectra ORB C Edition to a number of DSP platforms. The port has been made possible because of Spectra ORB C Edition’s unique modular micro-kernel architecture combined with the realization of other advanced design goals such as reduced code and data segment.

  Spectra ORB C Edition for DSP is the first product that is small and fast enough to bring CORBA to the DSP world. Digital Signal Processing is a key technology fuelling innovative, high growth applications for many of today’s fast growing markets such as digital wireless, broadband access, digital audio, high-resolution imaging and digital motor control. DSP is unique because it processes data in real time making it perfect for applications that cannot tolerate any delays.

  The DSP remained until recently the last frontier for CORBA. However, modern applications demand extensive functionality combined with great flexibility in ever smaller devices and it is this that has driven the porting of CORBA to DSPs. Running CORBA on a DSP achieves flexibility and simplifies integration by exposing the services offered by the DSP far more widely than is possible with any other technology.

  Benefits of CORBA on a DSP

  Any application where a DSP is integrated with external systems of any kind will benefit from the simplified integration and enhanced flexibility provided by CORBA. The benefits of flexibility are very apparent in low-power hand-held devices such as mobile phones. Other applications that can benefit include:

  • Automobile Applications, including navigation systems
  • Avionics
  • Digital Radio
  • Industrial Controllers
  • IP Phones, IP Video Phones
  • Multi function printers
  • Smart Biometric Solutions
  • Software Defined Radio
  • Streaming Media Products, including personal video recorders, personal audio recorders
  • Surveillance Systems
  • VoIP, providing standards-based integration of host and DSP
  • All types of wireless applications

  Overall the cost of developing systems is reduced when CORBA is adopted. Without CORBA, a-priori design decisions are made that lock designers into costly design, implementation and test cycles as they struggle to rebalance task distribution to reduce power consumption. In a CORBA based system task allocation decisions can be made on the fly making it much easier and quicker to determine the optimum task allocation.

  Unrivalled Flexibility In many of today's signal processing systems, functionality is partitioned between the power-hungry General Purpose Processor (GPP) (frequently an ARM core) and the low power consuming DSP - the allocation of functionality is made at design time and cannot easily be changed later at runtime.

  However, when a DSP exposes its services through CORBA, it enables other devices, wherever they may be located, to call in and leverage that functionality. CORBA provides in essence a location transparency.

  This has a major impact on the design of systems - it is no longer necessary to statically locate tasks in either the DSP or the GPP, the tasks can be swapped from the GPP to the DSP and vice versa according to run time considerations. This enables designers to optimise systems in ways that are not possible with current technology. It also allows designers to consider the GPP and DSP as a single, homogenised platform and means that they can create multiple, flexible, configurable products on the same hardware platform. The result of this is shorter time to market for new product developments. In addition runtime re-configurability offers tremendous performance and power consumption advantages.

  Increased flexibility means smaller, cooler-running devices can be created. DSPs generally consume less power than GPPs and rebalancing the allocation of tasks between the GPP and DSP can result in an overall reduction in power consumption. Reduced power consumption means smaller batteries or extended battery life.

  The Spectra ORB Advantage

  Even modern DSPs are extremely resource constrained devices and ORBs from other vendors are simply too large in terms of their resource requirements to fit effectively on a DSP. Only Spectra ORB C Edition, with its configurable modular architecture has a footprint small enough to fit on a DSP.

  Spectra ORB C Edition provides the highest achievable performance and throughput, making it suitable for any system with stringent performance, or real-time requirements. When measured in terms of CPU instruction cycles per message, Spectra ORB is the most efficient ORB in the CORBA Industry. Fault tolerance and hard real-time extensions add user-selectable levels of service availability and predictability.

  Spectra ORB C Edition for DSP complies to the latest OMG minimumCORBA specification, the latest C mapping specification and to the Software Communication Architecture (SCA) for Software Defined Radio (SDR).

  DSP Platforms:

  • Texas Instruments C64X, C66X and C67X family of DSPs

• [+]C++ Edition

  Low Footprint - Fast, Predictable Behavior

  With Spectra ORB C++ Edition, PrismTech sets the standard for small size and high performance. In high performance environments such as military radio, Spectra ORB's optimised ORB core and marshalling engine enables wireless devices to support multiple waveforms that can be configured and reconfigured quickly and efficiently. Consuming minimum amounts of system resources, Spectra ORB C++ Edition enables the development of lower powered, cooler-running wireless devices.

  Spectra ORB is a member of PrismTech’s growing family of Wireless Software Infrastructure products and comprises a suite of SCA-compliant, high-performance, low-footprint CORBA ORBs and related Common Object Services. Spectra ORB has been designed and optimized for use in software-defined radio and other low profile, resource-constrained environments. Spectra ORB is unique in offering a fully interoperable solution for GPPs, DSPs and FPGAs (e.g. in a radio’s signal processing subsystem).

  Benefits

  Fast – Extensive testing has shown Spectra ORB C++ Edition to be as fast or faster than public domain and commercial ORBs. It incurs the lowest latency of any ORB tested, adding less than 10% typically over raw sockets.

  Scalable - Spectra ORB C++ Edition is at its best in a high-performance environment. As the number of clients, servers, and messages increases, performance degradation is minimal. This allows you to utilize Spectra ORB C++ Edition in rapidly growing, rapidly changing applications, confident that the ORB will not constrain performance as the number of objects and connections increases.

  Portable – Spectra ORB C++ Edition provides platform independent frameworks for exceptions, memory management, mutexes, and threading so you can develop on one platform (such as Windows NT) and deploy on another (such as VxWorks). Available on an extensive set of platforms from hand held devices up to high performance multi-card packages, Spectra ORB C++ Edition supports application developers across an unusually wide range of architectures.

  Flexible - Small size doesn’t have to mean limited functionality. With Spectra ORB C++ Edition, it means selecting the capabilities YOUR application needs.

  Reliable – Spectra ORB C++ Edition is optimized to meet end-to-end scheduling and timing requirements. The ORB client includes support for automatic fail over and configurable timeouts. The client will automatically attempt to retransmit failed requests to any available servers.

  Predictable Real-Time Behavior - Optional RT-CORBA 1.0 API plug-in support and proven internal real-time engine ensures predictability in real-time applications.

  Proven - Spectra ORB C Edition boasts a heritage of many years of use in commercial deployments in mission critical environments.

  Superior Support - Online support, updates, 24x7 support option, training, mentoring and outsourcing options are available.

  Unique Extensible Transport Framework (ETF) – Enables integration of a variety of messaging and transport protocols without arduous re-programming or reverse engineering.

  Portable Object Adapters (POAs) - Spectra ORB C++ Edition’s implementation is designed for size, speed and control. For example, an optional micro-POA can be utilized when memory space is at a premium. To provide a constant, controllable access time for each object, you may define how many objects and Portable Object Adapters will be created. Spectra ORB C++ Edition is the only ORB which allows you to fine-tune threading policies on a per-object basis rather than per POA. As a result, you need not create new POAs for every type of thread policy. Development and debugging is simpler.

  Key Features

  • Fully compliant with OMG’s minimumCORBA v1.0 specification and the JTRS Software Communications Architecture (SCA) v2.2.1 specification
  • IDL to C++ compiler
  • GIOP 1.1
  • Extensible Transport Framework (ETF) – providing multi-transport plug-in support, for transports such as TCP/IP, UDP and Compact PCI
  • Multi-thread safe
  • Extensible server-side threading framework
  • Portable Object Adaptors (POA)
  • Request timeouts
  • Real-Time CORBA v1.0 support

  Supporting CORBA Services:

  • Spectra Lightweight Naming, Event and Log Services

  Standard supported Platforms

  • VxWorks
  • Integrity
  • Windows NT
  • Linux
  • Solaris

  Spectra ORB C++ Edition can be made available on many other target RTOSs. Please contact PrismTech for details.

  Summary: The Spectra ORB C++ Edition Advantage

  • Lower footprint and overhead
  • More efficient use of resources (MHz)
  • Faster throughput
  • An ORB specifically designed for SDR and other resource constrained embedded and real-time applications.
  • The best ORB for SCA-compliant development.
  • The most open and configurable architecture.
  • A DSP and GPP solution in the same ORB family.
  • Complimentary SDR products and wireless software solutions
  • Support from a flexible, responsive and supportive middleware partner

The following Spectra Lightweight Services are available:

• [+]Spectra Lightweight Naming Service

  Low Footprint, High Performance

  The Spectra Lightweight Naming Service provides a low footprint, high performance standards based object location facility for use in DRE (Distributed Real-time Embedded) systems. With a pure ANSI C language core and support for both C++ and C Language mappings, the product implementation is POSIX compatible ensuring easy portability to any target platform.

  The Spectra Lightweight Naming Service is a member of PrismTech’s growing family of Distributed and Wireless Software Infrastructure products. This fully OMG (Object Management Group) and SCA (Software Communications Architecture) compliant implementation provides the low footprint, high performance and open architecture required for use in real-time and embedded SDR environments.

  A distributed “white pages” object location facility targeted initially at the Software Radio domain but providing much wider applications in all areas of real-time embedded systems.

  This implementation is based on a highly optimized subset of the OMG Naming Service and provides a standards based mechanism by which a client can locate an object reference using a logical name associated with an object. The Spectra ORB Lightweight Naming Service is a directory service for distributed objects.

  When to use the Spectra Lightweight Naming Service

  System resources, at the most basic level in object-based systems, are identified by an object reference, which will not bear any relationship to the type of the resource (e.g. a Domain Manager). The Naming Service allows useful, understandable names to be associated with resources, holding these in an easily navigable structure of related names and naming contexts. An application can therefore use the Naming Service to find a particular resource by a simple name, rather than via a complex object reference.

  The Spectra Lightweight Naming Service provides an open, standardized naming repository which means that applications can discover objects without needing to know their physical location or underlying reference.

  The Spectra Lightweight Naming Service has also been tailored to conform to the requirements of the SCA, which specifies that Soft-radio management components such as the CF Domain Manager can obtain object references to other framework resources by looking them up by name using the Naming Service.

  In telecoms, each underlying network element in a large-scale system will typically have a unique name related to the element type and physical location. By registering (binding) these names into the Naming Service, network management applications can then later query the Naming Service to get the appropriate reference to interrogate, for example, a faulty switch.

  The product has a unique and highly optimized architecture which allows it to be used in extremely resource constrained environments such as mobile hand-held devices.

  The Spectra Lightweight Naming Service Advantage

  The Spectra Lightweight Naming Service is a highly optimized, low footprint implementation of the OMG’s Lightweight Naming Service Specification. It provides a distributed directory service capability targeted initially at the Software Defined Radio domain but providing much wider application in all areas of DRE systems.

  Key Features

  • Fully compliant with the OMG’s Lightweight Naming Service specification (as defined in Chapter 3 of full Naming Service v1.3 standard) and the JTRS’s SCA v2.2.1 specification
  • Open architecture
  • C language core, able to support both C and C++ bindings
  • Ultra low footprint suitable for use in embedded applications
  • The Spectra Lightweight Naming Service provides users with the ability to:
    • give meaningful names to objects (name bindings)
    • allow objects, which have been bound to names, to be easily found (resolve)
    • organise names in logical hierarchies (naming contexts)
  • Command line administration tools to configure and manage the service
  • Highly optimized for maximum performance
  • Complimentary SDR products and wireless software solutions
  • Can be used in conjunction with the Spectra Lightweight Event Service and Spectra Lightweight Log Service
  • Support from a flexible, responsive and supportive middleware partner

  Standard Supported Platforms:

  • Windows XP, 2003
  • Linux
  • Solaris
  • VxWorks
  • Integrity
  • LynxOS

  The Spectra Lightweight Naming Service can be made available on many other target RTOSs. Please contact PrismTech for details.

• [+]Spectra Lightweight Event Service

  Low Footprint, High Performance

  The Spectra Lightweight Event Service provides a low footprint, high performance standards based asynchronous communications facility for use in DRE (Distributed Real-time Embedded) systems. With a pure ANSI C language core and support for both C++ and C Language mappings, the product implementation is POSIX compatible ensuring easy portability to any target platform.

  The Spectra Lightweight Event Service is a member of PrismTech’s growing family of Distributed and Wireless Software Infrastructure products. This fully OMG (Object Management Group) and SCA (Software Communications Architecture) compliant implementation provides the low footprint, high performance and open architecture required for use in real-time and embedded SDR environments.

  This implementation is based on a highly optimized subset of the OMG Event Service and provides a powerful asynchronous communications mechanism for embedded systems.

  When to use the Spectra Lightweight Event Service

  The OMG’s Event Service enables data, referred to as events, to be sent and received as messages between distributed software objects in a decoupled fashion. Objects which send messages through an intermediary, such as the Event Service, are referred to as being decoupled. Objects which send messages directly between each other are referred to as being tightly coupled.

  Decoupling objects which send messages to each other provides a variety of advantages and benefits over tightly coupling the objects. Advantages can include greatly improved scalability, improvements to maintainability, greater flexibility, and others. In general terms, decoupling enables events to be transmitted more efficiently and flexibly than when events are sent directly between objects (tightly coupled).

  The Spectra Lightweight Event Service provides support for generic events and a highly efficient Push style event transfer where event communication is initiated by the supplier of events ‘pushing’ then out to consumers.

  The Spectra Lightweight Event Service also includes a number of important QoS extensions to control the performance and behaviour of the service.

  The product has a unique and highly optimized architecture which allows it to be used in extremely resource constrained environments such as mobile hand-held devices.

  The Spectra Lightweight Event Service Advantage

  The Spectra Lightweight Log Service is a highly optimized, low footprint implementation of the OMG’s Lightweight Event Service Specification. It provides a distributed asynchronous communications capability targeted initially at the Software Defined Radio domain but providing much wider application in all areas of DRE systems.

  Key Features

  • Fully compliant with the OMG’s Lightweight Event Service specification (as defined in Chapter 3 of the full Event Service v1.2 standard) and the JTRS’s SCA v2.2.1 specification
  • Open architecture
  • C language core, able to support both C and C++ bindings
  • Ultra low footprint suitable for use in embedded applications
  • Support for Push style communication
  • Support for Generic Events
  • Additional QoS support:
    • ChannelMaxSize—specifies the maximum number of events which will be queued (buffered) by each EventChannel.
    • ProxyMaxSize - specifies the maximum number of events which will be queued by each ProxyPushSupplier.
    • ChannelPushMode— sets the EventChannel push mode to BLOCK or REJECT event when the channel’s queue is full.
    • ProxyPushMode— determines hwether the event channel will BLOCK or REJECT events when the proxy’s queue is full.
  • Command line administration tools to configure and manage the service
  • Highly optimized for maximum performance
  • Complimentary SDR products and wireless software solutions
  • Can be used in conjunction with the Spectra Lightweight Naming Service and Spectra Lightweight Log Service
  • Support from a flexible, responsive and supportive middleware partner

  Standard Supported Platforms:

  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Solaris
  • VxWorks
  • Integrity
  • LynxOS

  The Spectra Lightweight Event Service can be made available on many other target RTOSs. Please contact PrismTech for details.

• [+]Spectra Lightweight Log Service

  Low Footprint, High Performance

  The Spectra Lightweight Log Service provides a low footprint, high performance standards based logging facility for use in DRE (Distributed Real-time Embedded) systems. With a pure ANSI C language core and support for both C++ and C Language mappings, the product implementation is POSIX compatible ensuring easy portability to any target platform.

  The Spectra Lightweight Log Service is a member of PrismTech’s growing family of Distributed and Wireless Software Infrastructure products. This fully OMG (Object Management Group) and SCA (Software Communications Architecture) compliant implementation provides the low footprint, high performance and open architecture required for use in real-time and embedded SDR environments.

  This implementation is based on a highly optimized subset of the OMG Telecom Log Service and provides a standard mechanism for storing records produced by applications residing in a distributed environment. These records are persisted in a memory only storage area owned and managed by the Spectra ORB Lightweight Log Service.

  When to use the Spectra Lightweight Log Service

  Software developers use logging while building software systems to generate low-level traces and messages that contain detailed information about program execution. This information is typically used for debugging applications under development. However in order to facilitate ongoing system maintenance, logging of this kind of information will continue as the software is deployed in order to be able to analyze possible failures.

  The Spectra Lightweight Log Service provides two basic functions: firstly it provides a facility for components that produce log information to store the data, and secondly it provides a mechanism by which data can be disseminated to any interested parties.

  The Spectra Lightweight Log Service provides a central logging facility, enabling the asynchronous collection of informational messages from any component connected to the service and the controlled read access to this information.

  The Spectra Lightweight Log service has been tailored to conform to the requirements of the SCA, which specifies that Soft-radio components that are log-producers must be able to generate standardized records. A log producer is a SCA compliant core framework component (e.g. DomainManger, Application, ApplicationFactory, DeviceManager, Device) or an application’s CORBA® capable component (e.g., Resource, ResourceFactory) as specified in the SCA specification.

  The Spectra Lightweight Log Service Advantage

  The Spectra Lightweight Log Service is a highly optimized, low footprint implementation of the OMG’s Lightweight Log Service Specification. It provides a distributed “logging” capability targeted initially at the Software Defined Radio domain but providing much wider application in all areas of DRE systems.

  Key Features

  • Fully compliant with the OMG’s Lightweight Log Service v1.1 specification and the JTRS’s SCA v2.2.1 specification
  • Open architecture
  • C language core, able to support both C and C++ bindings
  • Ultra low footprint suitable for use in embedded applications
  • Support for standard SCA log records
  • Event unaware i.e. saves the log record information to the log store, log forwarding is not supported
  • Retrieval of log records by Specified Number, Time Stamp, Log Level, Producer ID & Producer Name
  • Command line administration tools to configure and manage the log store
  • Highly optimized for maximum performance
  • Complimentary SDR products and wireless software solutions
  • Can be used in conjunction with the Spectra Lightweight Naming Service and Soectra Lightweight Event Service
  • Support from a flexible, responsive and supportive middleware partner

  Standard Supported Platforms:

  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Solaris
  • VxWorks
  • Integrity
  • LynxOS

  The Spectra Lightweight Log Service can be made available on many other target RTOSs. Please contact PrismTech for details.