pGNAT : the Ravenscar cross compiler for the Gurkh Project

Concurrency has greatly simplified the design of embedded software, but the gain in design simplicity is offset by the complexity of system implementation. The Ravenscar profile of Ada95 defines safe tasking constructs that enable the use of deterministic concurrency. The translation of these high-level constructs by the compiler to deterministic object code is dependent on both the underlying operating system and the system operation platform. The commonly available open-source development tools for compiling Ravenscar compliant Ada95 assume that the operating system is implemented as software. A hardware implemented run-time kernel requires a radical rethink of the execution architecture because operating system calls have to be routed from the host processor running the tasks to the hardware implemented kernel RavenHaRT. The redesigned compiler pGNAT is based on the open-source GNAT compiler and uses the GCC back end to cross compile application code to PowerPC object code. The GNAT run-time library (GNARL) is modified to support the use of RavenHaRT. This thesis presents the technical challenges faced and the modifications carried out for generating RavenHaRT compatible, Ravenscar compliant object code.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Seeumpornroj, Pee, 1979-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• I. Kristina Lundqvist.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17994

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/17994