Java based open architecture controller

At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) the authors have been developing an open architecture machine tool controller. This work has been patterned after the General Motors (GM) led Open Modular Architecture Controller (OMAC) work, where they have been involved since its inception. The OMAC work has centered on creating sets of implementation neutral application programming interfaces (APIs) for machine control software components. In the work at LLNL, they were among the early adopters of the Java programming language. As an application programming language, it is particularly well suited for component software development. The language contains many features, which along with a well-defined implementation API (such as the OMAC APIs) allows third party binary files to be integrated into a working system. Because of its interpreted nature, Java allows rapid integration testing of components. However, for real-time systems development, the Java programming language presents many drawbacks. For instance, lack of well defined scheduling semantics and threading behavior can present many unwanted challenges. Also, the interpreted nature of the standard Java Virtual Machine (JVM) presents an immediate performance hit. Various real-time Java vendors are currently addressing some of these drawbacks. The various pluses and minuses of using the Java programming language and environment, with regard to a component-based controller, will be outlined