Design Methodology for Robust, Distributed Time-Sensitive Applications

Time has become an essential aspect of many computing systems where temporal correctness is as important as functional correctness. Autonomous vehicles, Industry 4.0, and smart grids are a few examples of time-sensitive systems. As time-sensitive applications become large, complex, and distributed, traditional methods fall short of achieving the desired orchestration among components. In this vision article, we first propose a standard to maintain an accurate notion of time among all components of the system, i.e., sensors, computing platforms, and actuators. Then, we propose explicit-time state estimation and closed-loop control algorithms that can tolerate large delays while achieving reasonable performance, and an integrated fail-safe mechanism that achieves a high level of robustness when timing failures happen.