HyperReal : a modular control architecture for HRT systems

This paper describes the basic ideas of the HyperReal project. It is centered on the definition of architectural abstractions to design modular RT systems. Basic components are reactive agents manipulating data and connectors supporting interactions among agents. Such components are not aware of control strategies, which are managed by a controller. The controller relies on a time-driven model of control, and separates planning and dispatching of actions. Plans are associated with virtual clocks that support the explicit management of time. The architectural abstractions allow designers to fully control the temporal behavior of the system and to reuse components to fit different application-oriented control models.