System Design and Algorithmic Development for Air Traffic Control Based on an Associative Processor

This paper provides a solution to air traffic control (ATC) using an enhanced SIMD machine model called an Associative Processor (AP). Our solution differs from previous ATC systems that are designed for MIMD computers and have a great deal of difficulty meeting the predictability requirements for ATC, which are critical for meeting the strict certification standards required for safety critical software components. The proposed AP solution supports accurate predictions of worst case execution times and guarantees all deadlines are met. Furthermore, the software developed based on the AP model is much simpler and smaller in size than the current corresponding ATC software. As the associative processor is built from SIMD hardware, it is considerably cheaper and simpler than the MIMD hardware currently used to support ATC. We have designed an ATC prototype consisting of eight ATC real-time tasks for the ClearSpeed CSX600 accelerator, which is used to emulate the AP. Its performance is evaluated in terms of execution time and predictability and is compared to the fastest host-only version implemented using OpenMP on an 8-core multiprocessor (MIMD). Our extensive experiments show that the AP implementation meets all deadlines that can be statically scheduled. In contrast, some tasks miss their deadlines when implemented on the MIMD platform. It is shown that the proposed AP solution will support accurate predictions of worst case execution times and will guarantee that all deadlines are met.