My Phd thesis title is "
Configuration and
Deployment of Distributed Real-time Embedded Systems using an
Architecture Description Language". My supervisors are
Laurent Pautet and
Jérôme
Hugues. I defended my thesis in November 2008. Here is a
link to my
Curriculum Vitae (in french).
Office : DGIMA-5
Phone : (+216)
74 274 088 (Nbr 252)
Fax: (+216) 74
666 578
Address: Route
de Soukra km 4, B.P. 1173, 3038, Sfax-Tunisia
E-Mail: bechir(dot)zalila(at)enis(dot)rnu(dot)tn
Currently, my research activities are undertaken inside the
ReDCAD research team.
A first research axis is a continuation of my
thesis work. Some distributed
real time embedded systems (
DRE) need to be
configured dynamically while continuing to preserve
correctness properties. A first step of this work consists of
defining a modeling formalism which is able to express dynamic
configuration and deployment propoerties. This formalism is
inspired from the
MARTE UML profile and from
the
AADL
(
Architecture Analysis & Design Language). A
second step of this work is to design and implement an
execution platform for dynamically configurable DRE systems.
A second research axis I am working on is the generation of
aspect code from abstract aspect annexes integrated in an
architectural model for real time embedded systems. This
allows the separation of concerns in such systems and also to
ensure a smooth integration of some non functional propoerties
such as security, availability, etc.
The two research axes described above can be joined together
under the research thematics Models@Runtime. This
relatively recent thematics investigates ways to model the
execution state of distributed real time embedded systems. Any
change on the execution state of a system have to be reflected
on its model. Reversely, any change or alteration on a model
will cause a corresponding alteration on the execution state
of the system.
Building distributed real-time embedded systems (DRE) is a tedious
task. In addition, real-time applications must satisfy hard constraints
to ensure they work correctly (meeting deadlines...). The use of
architecture description languages aims at reducing the development
cost of these applications.
AADL
(
Architecture Analysis & Design Language) belongs to this
family of languages. It uses the concept of "component" (hardware or
software) whose well defined semantics makes possible the description
of many aspects of DRE systems. The various constraints that must be
met are integrated into the AADL model as properties. My thesis work
exploits the features offered by AADL to specify the exact requirements
of a DRE application and automatically generate its code. The
production process that has been proposed (1) automatically produces
the code to integrate the applicative components to the runtime
platform, (2) automatically produces a significant part of the
middleware components customised for the application and (3)
automatically deploys the applicative and middleware components to get
a system which is strongly dedicated to the application. In particular,
the AADL executive is itself statically configured. The adopted
approach reduces the development time and allows for an customised and
analyzable code. The configuration and deployment (often separated from
the development process) are now automated and integrated into the
production chain.
During my thesis work, I developed and contributed to the
development of several tools:
Ocarina: Ocarina is a tool suite written in
Ada to manipulate
AADL
models. Ocarina can perform semantic analysis of AADL models,
schedulability analysis (through the
Cheddar tool) and formal verification
(by generating Petri nets from AADL models and analyzing them
with the
CPN-AMI framework). Ocarina can generate
distributed applications from their AADL models. My contribution to
Ocarina was the development of the code generators to the
PolyORB and
PolyORB-HI middleware.
PolyORB: PolyORB is a "schizophrenic middleware". My
main contribution to PolyORB was the development of its new
IDL compiler: IAC. PolyORB is free software available for
download from the site of
AdaCore.
PolyORB-HI: PolyORB-HI is a middleware dedicated
to critical systems (avionics, space, etc.). Most of the code
of this middleware is generated automatically using
the
Ocarina tool
suite.
For more details on my thesis work, you can download
my
thesis report.
Responsible of the ISD (Distributed Software Engineering) curriculum
axis for the third year engineering students (computer science) of
ENIS.
Responsible of the advanced C language course for the first-year
engineering students (computer science) of ENIS.
Responsible of the CORBA course for the second year engineering
students (computer science) of ENIS.
Responsible of the J2EE sources for the third year engineering students
(computer science/ISD) of ENIS.
Responsible of the Software Maintenance course for the third year
engineering students (computer science/GL) of ENIS.
Responsible of the AADL language course for second and third year
engineering students of
Telecom ParisTech (INF-342 module) and second
year
SAR
Master degree students of
UPMC (RAAR and ETER modules). (2006-2008)
Supervision of tutorials on the real-time scheduling theory for second
and third year students of Telecom ParisTech (INF-342 module).
(2006-2008)
Supervision of Lab. sessions on the AADL language for second and third
year students of Telecom ParisTech (INF-342 module) and second year SAR
Master degree students of UPMC (RAAR and ETER modules). (2006-2008)
Supervision of Lab. sessions on real-time computing (C/POSIX and Ada)
for second and third year engineering students of Telecom ParisTech
(modules and INF-223 INF-342) and second year SAR Master degree
students of UPMC (FSET and ETER modules). (2005-2008)
Supervision of Lab. sessions on distributed computing (CORBA/Java,
CORBA/Ada) for second and third engineering students year of Telecom
ParisTech (INF-223 module). (2005-2008)
Supervision of Lab. sessions on distributed computing
(DSA/Ada) and group communication (Ada) for second and third
year engineering students of Telecom ParisTech (INF-346
module). (2005-2008)
Supervision of Lab. sessions on UML and Esterel for second and third
year engineering students of Telecom ParisTech (INF-222 module).
(2005-2008)
Supervision of Lab. sessions on the C language for first-year
engineering students of Telecom ParisTech. (2005-2008)
Supervision of Lab. sessions on the architecture of operating systems
for first-year engineering students of Telecom ParisTech. (2005-2008)
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[1]
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J. Hugues, B. Zalila, L. Pautet, and F. Kordon.
From the Prototype to the Final Embedded System Using the Ocarina
AADL Tool Suite.
ACM Transactions in Embedded Computing Systems (TECS),
7(4):1-25, jul 2008.
[ BibTeX |
DOI ]
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|
[2]
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I. Hamid, B. Zalila, E. Najm, and J. Hugues.
Automatic framework generation for hard real-time applications.
Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering: A NASA
Journal, mar 2008.
[ BibTeX |
DOI ]
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|
[3]
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B. Zalila, J. Hugues, and L. Pautet.
An Improved IDL Compiler for Optimizing CORBA Applications.
ACM SIGAda Ada Letters, XXVI(3):21 - 27, dec 2006.
Best student paper award.
[ BibTeX |
HTML ]
Best student paper award
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[1]
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Sihem Loukil, Slim Kallel, Bechir Zalila, and Mohamed Jmaiel.
Toward an Aspect Oriented ADL for Embedded Systems.
In the 4th European Conference on Software Architecture -
ECSA'2010, Research Challenge Paper, Copenhagen - Denmark, August 2010.
[ BibTeX ]
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[2]
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Sihem Loukil, Slim Kallel, Bechir Zalila, and Mohamed Jmaiel.
AO4AADL: an Aspect Oriented ADL for Embedded Systems.
In the 10th Annual International Conference on New Technologies
of Distributed Systems - Notere 2010, a Demonstration Paper, Tozeur -
Tunisia, June 2010.
[ BibTeX ]
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[3]
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Fatma Krichen, Brahim Hamid, Bechir Zalila, and Bernard Coulette.
Designing Dynamic Reconfiguration for Distributed Real Time Embedded
Systems.
In the 10th Annual International Conference on New Technologies
of Distributed Systems - Notere 2010, Tozeur - Tunisia, june 2010.
[ BibTeX ]
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[4]
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G. Lasnier, B. Zalila, L. Pautet, and J. Hugues.
OCARINA: An Environment for AADL Models Analysis and Automatic Code
Generation for High Integrity Applications.
In Reliable Software Technologies'09 - Ada Europe, Brest,
France, jun 2009.
[ BibTeX ]
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[5]
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B. Zalila, L. Pautet, and J. Hugues.
Towards Automatic Middleware Generation.
In 11th IEEE International Symposium on Object-oriented
Real-time distributed Computing (ISORC'08), pages 221-228, Orlando,
Florida, USA, may 2008.
[ BibTeX |
DOI ]
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[6]
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J. Hugues, L. Pautet, and B. Zalila.
From MDD to Full Industrial Process: Building Distributed Real-Time
Embedded Systems for the High-Integrity Domain.
In Monterey Workshop 2006, volume LNCS, pages 35-52, Paris,
France, jan 2008.
[ BibTeX |
DOI ]
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[7]
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J. Delange, J. Hugues, L. Pautet, and B. Zalila.
Code Generation Strategies from AADL Architectural Descriptions
Targeting the High Integrity Domain.
In 4th European Congress ERTS, Toulouse, France, jan 2008.
[ BibTeX ]
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[8]
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J. Hugues, L. Pautet, B. Zalila, P. Dissaux, and M. Perrotin.
Using AADL to build critical real-time systems:Experiments in the
IST-ASSERT project.
In 4th European Congress ERTS, Toulouse, France, jan 2008.
[ BibTeX ]
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[9]
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B. Zalila, I. Hamid, J. Hugues, and L. Pautet.
Generating Distributed High Integrity Applications from their
Architectural Description.
In 12th International Conference on Reliable Software
Technologies - Ada-Europe 2007, volume LNCS, pages 155-167, Geneva,
Switzerland, jun 2007.
[ BibTeX |
DOI ]
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[10]
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J. Hugues, B. Zalila, and L. Pautet.
Combining Model processing and Middleware Configuration for Building
Distributed High-Integrity Systems.
In 10th IEEE International Symposium on Object-oriented
Real-time distributed Computing (ISORC'07), pages 307-312, Santorini
Island, Greece, may 2007.
[ BibTeX |
DOI ]
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[11]
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J. Hugues, B. Zalila, L. Pautet, and F. Kordon.
Rapid Prototyping of Distributed Real-Time Embedded Systems Using
the AADL and Ocarina.
In 18th IEEE/IFIP International Workshop on Rapid System
Prototyping (RSP'07), pages 106-112, Porto Allegre Brésil, may 2007.
[ BibTeX |
DOI ]
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[12]
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I. Hamid, B. Zalila, E. Najm, and J. Hugues.
A generative approach to building a framework for hard real-time
applications.
In 31st Annual NASA Goddard Software Engineering Workshop,
pages 269-278, Baltimore, USA, mar 2007.
[ BibTeX |
DOI ]
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[13]
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J. Hugues, B. Zalila, and L.Pautet.
Middleware and Tool suite for High Integrity Systems.
In Work-in-Progress session of the Real-Time Systems Symposium
(RTSS'-WiP06), pages 1-4, Rio de Janeiro, Brésil, dec 2006.
[ BibTeX ]
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[14]
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B. Zalila, J. Hugues, and L. Pautet.
An Improved IDL Compiler for Optimizing CORBA Applications.
In Proceedings of the 2006 annual ACM SIGAda international
conference on Ada (SIGAda'06), pages 21 - 27, Albuquerque, USA, nov 2006.
[ BibTeX |
HTML ]
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[1]
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Bechir Zalila.
Optimisation, Déterminisme et Asynchronisme de Souches et
Squelettes CORBA pour Systèmes Répartis Temps-réel.
Master's thesis, Université Pierre & Marie Curie, Paris VI, sep
2005.
[ BibTeX |
PDF ]
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[2]
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Bechir Zalila.
Configuration et déploiement d'applications temps-réel
réparties embarquées à l'aide d'un langage de description
d'architecture.
PhD thesis, École Nationale Supérieure des
Télécommunications, nov 2008.
[ BibTeX |
PDF ]
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[1]
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J. Hugues and B. Zalila.
PolyORB High Integrity User's Guide.
Technical report, École Nationale Supérieure des
Télécommunications, jan 2007.
[ BibTeX |
HTML ]
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[2]
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T. Vergnaud, B. Zalila, and J. Hugues.
Ocarina: a Compiler for the AADL.
Technical report, École Nationale Supérieure des
Télécommunications, jun 2006.
[ BibTeX |
HTML ]
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[1]
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B. Zalila.
Configuration and Deployment of Distributed Real-time and Embedded
Applications Using an Architecture Description Language.
In Méthodes Formelles pour les Systèmes Logiciels et
Matériels, apr 2008.
[ BibTeX |
PDF ]
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This
poster describes the
contributions of
Sihem Loukil's master's thesis work. It was
presented at the
NOTERE'2010 conference
held in June 2010 in Tozeur, Tunisia.
This
poster describes one
of the contributions of
Fatma Krichen's phd thesis work. It was
presented at the
NOTERE'2010 conference
held in June 2010 in Tozeur, Tunisia.
This
poster
describes the Ocarina tool suite. It was presented at the
RTSS'06 in December 2006
in Rio de Janeiro.
Ada95 : A very good Ada 95
tutorial for those who want to learn Ada.
A
simplified graphic
library I developed. This library can be used in lab
sessions of languages C and Ada for CS-1 and CS-2 students to
make them more concrete. There are binary archives for most of
the popular UNIX-Like platforms. If you are interested in the
source code, do not hesitate to e-mail me.
