Reliable real-time software structure for distributed switching nodes

This paper describes a highly reliable real-time software structure and presents the experimental results obtained from its implementation in a prototype system. This software structure is based on distributed processing, object-oriented and layering approaches. Its distributed environment is provided by a CHILL run-time routine (RTR) that gives real-time performance by combining the language implementation with a light-weight OS kernel, and also has a efficient mechanism for reducing the time for call saving process to attain high reliability. From the viewpoint of software development, these technologies are effective for providing new service features quickly and allowing the software in each layer to be developed independently, thus leading to better maintainability and extensibility of the software.