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Real-time Java takes the stage

Introducing the JavaNator

By Tim Rohaly, JavaWorld.com, 03/26/02

March 26, 2002 -- If you managed to sit through the entire opening keynote address at the JavaOne Conference and Expo on Monday morning, you would have caught the first glimpse of a new demo from Sun -- the JavaNator. Avoiding the marketing talks that characterized the other speakers, James Gosling, reprising his role from previous JavaOne conferences, used his time on stage to demonstrate emerging technologies. One demo, JavaNator, highlighted real-time Java in embedded devices integrated with wireless Java phones in an end-to-end Web services architecture.

Real-time Java

Real-time Java is one of Gosling's areas of interest. Real-time systems are found in embedded applications as well as other applications that require a deterministic time behavior.

The Real-Time Specification for Java (RTSJ) holds the distinction of being the first Java Specification Request (JSR 1) of the 171 submitted to the Java Community Process (JCP) so far. But order of submission doesn't imply order of completion; although many other specifications have passed through the JCP, the RTSJ was just finalized in November 2001. Sun is not providing a reference implementation of the specification -- that task was delegated to TimeSys.

RTSJ includes such features as real-time threads, asynchronous events, interruptible nonblocking I/O (input/output), access to physical memory, scheduling, and timers. One of many Sun attempts to address embedded applications, RTSJ joins the ranks of aborted efforts such as EmbeddedJava, PersonalJava, and PicoJava as well as successful efforts such as J2ME (Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition). Whether RTSJ survives and where it will fit in with other Sun offerings remains to be seen. Past experiences in this area suggest that Sun has a tough hill to climb to succeed with RTSJ.

Although many companies offer real-time solutions for Java -- aJile Systems, esmertec, NewMonics, and Zucotto Wireless, for example -- none of these vendors support RTSJ in their products. In fact, most embedded VM and hardware vendors seem to focus most of their efforts on J2ME and have no plans to immediately jump on the real-time Java bandwagon. Since these companies already support some real-time capabilities, they see no compelling reason to immediately support the new RTSJ. Many are considering RTSJ support for the future (in the next 12-18 months), but most are waiting to see market demand before committing to this new API.

The exception is aJile Systems -- aJile participated in the RTSJ expert group and is currently working on an RTSJ implementation for its aJ-80 and aJ-100 chips.

Robot sumo

JavaNator presented a hands-on application designed to capture the imagination as well as emphasize the integration of several key Sun technologies, namely Web services, real-time Java, and wireless services. It was certainly the keynote's highlight and ended the session on a positive note. Simply put, JavaNator is a Java-powered robot.

The JavaNator demonstration started with Japan-class robot sumo. Robot sumo has been popular in Japan for many years, but within the past five years it has made significant headway in the US. Leading the popularization effort in this country is Bill Harrison, who incidentally designed and built the robot-driving base used by JavaNator.

 

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