Optimized Java Binary and Virtual Machine for Tiny Motes

Aslam, Faisal; Fennell, Luminous; Schindelhauer, Christian; Thiemann, Peter; Ernst, Gerhard; Haußmann, Elmar; Rührup, Stefan; Uzmi, Zastash A.

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-13651-1_2

Cited by 23 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In comparison to standard Java, WSN-specific extensions significantly increase the utility of our macroprogramming language. Some low-resource Java virtual machines also exist that are targeted at low-power embedded and networked systems [1], [2], [17], but they still require a comparatively significant amount of resources. For example, the Squawk virtual machine uses 80 kB of program memory and consequently targets more powerful ARM-based embedded platforms [18].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design and compilation of an object-oriented macroprogramming language for wireless sensor networks

Oppermann

Römer

Mottola

et al. 2014

39th Annual IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks Workshops

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Abstract-Wireless sensor network (WSN) programming is still largely performed by experts in a node-centric way using low-level languages such as C. Although numerous higher-level abstractions exist, each simplifying a specific aspect of distributed programming, real applications often require to combine multiple abstractions into a single program. Using current programming frameworks, this represents a difficult task. In previous work, we therefore defined a conceptual framework that facilitates abstraction composition by defining sound compositional rules among few fundamental abstraction categories. The framework is extensible: programmers can add new abstractions within the boundaries determined by the compositional rules.In this paper we describe the design of a language-called MPL-that instantiates this conceptual framework. To support the extensible nature of the framework, the language is objectoriented, which allows programmers to add new abstractions by inheriting from existing classes that implement predefined interfaces. We modeled the syntax after Java, to make it more palatable to inexperienced embedded programmers. Compared to Java, we modified the language to enable efficient execution on WSN devices. We designed and implemented a compiler that translates MPL language into executable C code, which spares the overhead of a virtual machine. By comparing MPL implementations against functionally-equivalent Contiki/C implementations of several benchmark applications, we determined that the performance overhead of MPL is limited, and yet the programming task is simplified.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fig. 2 gives a high-level overview of the MPL compiler architecture 1 . Primary input to the MPL compiler is a macro-program written in MPL, possibly consisting of several source files.…”

Section: Interface To the Underlying Platformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and compilation of an object-oriented macroprogramming language for wireless sensor networks

Oppermann

Römer

Mottola

et al. 2014

39th Annual IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks Workshops

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…To avoid the pitfalls of programming in a lowlevel language, there is a growing interest to program the motes using Java, a widely used high level programming language with a large developer community. Towards this end, several Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) for motes have been rolled out in recent years [3,6,13]. The advantages of using Java include portability, type safety and run-time garbage collection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, many motes follow the Harvard architecture requiring the JIT compiler to generate the native code in flash memory which has a long write time, resulting in a slower program execution [24]. This paper also assumes a JVM with a stack-based architecture, which results in a smaller Java binary [20], compared to register-based architectures, and is used by most popular JVMs for motes [3,6,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper proposes a new call stack design for Java from the standpoint of tiny embedded devices (e.g motes) with smaller than 10 KB of RAM. Our call stack redesign applies to all of the well-known JVMs for tiny motes which are stack based and use interpreters rather than Just-in-Time (JIT) compilers [3,6,13]. These JVMs avoid the use of JIT compilation as it requires a relatively large amount of memory-a scarce resource in motes-for storing and dynamically producing the native code at run time [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rethinking Java call stack design for tiny embedded devices

Aslam

Baig

Qureshi

et al. 2012

Proceedings of the 13th ACM SIGPLAN/SIGBED International Conference on Languages, Compilers, Tools and Theory for Embedded Syst

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The ability of tiny embedded devices to run large feature-rich programs is typically constrained by the amount of memory installed on such devices. Furthermore, the useful operation of these devices in wireless sensor applications is limited by their battery life. This paper presents a call stack redesign targeted at an efficient use of RAM storage and CPU cycles by a Java program running on a wireless sensor mote. Without compromising the application programs, our call stack redesign saves 30% of RAM, on average, evaluated over a large number of benchmarks. On the same set of benchmarks, our design also avoids frequent RAM allocations and deallocations, resulting in average 80% fewer memory operations and 23% faster program execution. These may be critical improvements for tiny embedded devices that are equipped with small amount of RAM and limited battery life. However, our call stack redesign is equally effective for any complex multi-threaded object oriented program developed for desktop computers. We describe the redesign, measure its performance and report the resulting savings in RAM and execution time for a wide variety of programs.

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Handling IoT platform heterogeneity with COISA, a compact OpenISA virtual platform

Auler

Millani

Brisighello

et al. 2016

Concurrency and Computation

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In face of the high number of different hardware platforms we need to program with Internet-of-Things (IoT), virtual machines (VMs) pose as a promising technology to allow a program once, deploy everywhere strategy. Unfortunately, existing VMs are either too heavy or use a stripped-down version to work on resource-constrained IoT devices. We present COISA, a compact virtual platform that relies on OpenISA, an instruction set architecture (ISA) that strives for easy emulation, to allow a single program to be deployed on many platforms, including tiny microcontrollers. By exploring the benefits of using a concrete ISA as our VM language, our experimental results indicate that COISA is easily portable and is capable of running unmodified guest applications in highly heterogeneous host platforms, including one with only 2 kB of RAM. For time-critical IoT applications on constrained platforms where extracting performance is of paramount importance, we propose the use of cloud-assisted translations, which employ static binary translation to deliver a binary fully converted to the native ISA used in the IoT device.HANDLING IOT PLATFORM HETEROGENEITY WITH COISA Our previous experience with ISA emulation and design [9,33,34] have shown us that a clean ISA, similar to MIPS, allows us to build a high-performance emulator capable of emulating guest

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Optimized Java Binary and Virtual Machine for Tiny Motes

Cited by 23 publications

References 9 publications

Design and compilation of an object-oriented macroprogramming language for wireless sensor networks

Design and compilation of an object-oriented macroprogramming language for wireless sensor networks

Rethinking Java call stack design for tiny embedded devices

Handling IoT platform heterogeneity with COISA, a compact OpenISA virtual platform

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