Design and run-time quality of service management techniques for publish/subscribe distributed real-time and embedded systems

Abstract

Quality of service (QoS)-enabled publish/subscribe middleware provides many configurable policies that increase flexibility and functionality but present many challenges. Configuring QoS policies has become more complicated due to the number of policies, the number of parameters per policy, and the policy interactions. Additionally, QoS mechanisms, such as transport protocols, used in one particular operating environment might not achieve the desired QoS for a different operating environment. Moreover, unforeseen changes in the environment during run-time can cause specified QoS not to be met.

This thesis describes a research approach to managing the complexity of QoS-enabled DRE middleware. We show how a domain specific modeling language automates analysis and development of QoS policy configurations and improves productivity. We also show how integrating pub/sub middleware with our flexible network transport framework and our composite QoS metrics determines the most appropriate QoS mechanisms for a given environment while reducing development complexity. Finally, we show how pub/sub middleware can autonomically adapt in flexible and dynamic environments to support QoS.