ConcurrentSolutionsVolume 15 , Summer 2013

A publication

for the real-time

computing industry

The Challenge: New Technologies and Next-generation Weapons“The challenge for the Navy’s research and development community is not only to improve the current generation of torpedoes but also to exploit new technologies for the next generation of underwater weapons. Using speed, stealth, and new engagement concepts, the modern torpedo _ and other weapons that evolve from it _ will continue to provide the capabilities needed to maintain a distinct advantage over our enemies.”1

The Solution: The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) and Concurrent Real-TimeRight now, submarines like the USS Oklahoma City are using a digital network

The Navy’s Torpedoes Better Targeted UsingiHawkTM Real-Time Simulation

Film buffs who remember “The Hunt for Red October” were thrilled by scenes of a rogue Soviet

submarine as it evaded torpedoes by maneuvering through underwater canyons. The Red

October may not have been so lucky if its hunters had the resources of today’s U.S. Navy.)

established by the Weapons Analysis Facility (WAF) of the NUWC in Newport, Rhode Island, to hone in on their targets and plot their own evasive actions. With the help of Concurrent Real-Time, they’re doing it better, faster, safer and more efficiently using iHawk computer systems running RedHawk™ Linux®. You might say that Red October has yielded to RedHawk.

Synthetic Environment Meets Ocean DepthsWhile some testing of torpedoes still occurs in water _ with vast areas being cleared of possible human and animal interaction _ today’s Navy also relies on hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation systems in the WAF to develop, test and create tactics for new weapon systems. Working within a synthetic, simulated environment offers significant savings and reduces the time needed to get new capabilities to the fleet. The Navy and many private sector clients embrace HIL simulation for many reasons, including:

• Enhanced quality of testing, especially in creating and re-creating failure scenarios

• Shorter development schedules

Concurrent Real-Time has been named one of the Top Simulation and Training Companies for 2012 by Military Training Technology magazine. This is the sixth consecutive year Concurrent has been honored with this distinction.

The awards recognize companies from around the world that have made a significant impact on the military training industry across the spectrum of technologies and services.“It’s an honor to be part of this prestigious list of top performers serving the military training industry,” notes Ken Jackson, Vice President, Concurrent Real-Time. “Customers look to us to provide the hard real-time technology needed to create value-added solutions, so we’re doubly proud to be considered among ‘the best of the best’ again this year,” adds Jackson.A panel of independent industry judges selected the winning companies based on various criteria which, in part, included total military sales volume, innovation and program effectiveness. The awards were announced in the magazine’s October issue. For the whole story, and a complete list of winners, visit http://www.kmimediagroup.com/topsim2012.

CONCURRENT NAMED A2012 TOP SIMULATION AND TRAINING COMPANY BYMILITARY TRAININGTECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

Working within a synthetic, simulated environment offers significant savings and reduces the time needed to get new capabilities to the fleet.

Continued on page 3

page 2

ExecutiveMessageIN THIS ISSUE

The Customer Advantage:Achieving Competitive Advantage through Innovation

• We have released RedHawk Linux 6.3 based on a real-time enhanced kernel. org 3.5. RedHawk 6.3 offers improved real-time performance on NUMA systems by replicating kernel text and read-only data in each NUMA node. Version 6.3 also supports real-time networking via the high-performance OpenOnload® network stack over10 Gbit Ethernet. SELinux version 3.5 offering EAL-class security features is also a significant enhancement.

• We are now delivering our SIGnal WorkbenchTM programmable signal conditioning solution in conjunction with our partner, EDAS Inc. SIGnal Workbench addresses the needs of the energy market. We recently shipped platforms used in testing jet engines and monitoring gas turbines in the production of electricity.

• Our NightStarTM tools now offer advanced CUDA® debugging features including the ability to perform user trace inside GPU kernels, set breakpoints in GPU executed code and view GPU memory.

• ImaGenTM, our visual server solution, was selected as the deployment phase IG of the KTPS program in Korea.

1 The Navy’s Torpedoes better targeted using iHawk Real-Time simulation

2 Executive Message

4 RedHawk: Ten years of taking mission-critical apps to new heights

5 TechTalk: Real-time performance on NUMA

6 Optimizing multi-rate simulation on multi-core platforms

One company. Two websites. A common mission.

7 Concurrent Real-Time hits the road

Concurrent is privileged to have some of the very best Linux engineers in the industry.

Using Concurrent Real-Time solutions, submariners, such as those on the USS Oklahoma City, experience more accurate simulations even in the most complex scenarios featuring multiple weapons and targets.

As mission-critical markets become more competitive, our customers look to us to provide the real-time technology needed to create value-added solutions. They continue to choose Concurrent Real-Time for state-of-the-art, high-performance systems in a wide range of applications. As our name suggests, real-time performance is a key feature of all of our products, and we continue to make improvements through innovation and integration of the latest advances of the Linux platform.

Innovation means continually implementing more efficient ways to serve our customers and to provide best-in-class real-time products. For example:

• Our SIMulation WorkbenchTM product now supports true multi-rate simulation. A model can now be parsed into sub- models that can run on different CPU cores at different rates. This feature takes full advantage of our ability to support large multi-core COTS systems with the best real-time performance in the industry. We have also released a new Java-based GUI so our customers can directly configure, control and monitor their real-time target system from their desktops. We have also been busy adding support for new I/O, and have introduced our own family of Concurrent PCIe data acquisition I/O cards.

page 3

For more information visit: www.navsea.navy.mil/nuwc/

The Navy’s Torpedoes [continued from page 1]

The Customer Advantage:Achieving Competitive Advantage through Innovation

- Ken Jackson, Concurrent Vice-President, Real-Time

Visit real-time.ccur.com

•    Elimination of prohibitive costs that   are typical in weapons development 

•    Ability to preview and post-run   expensive in-water exercises

•   Ability to synthetically recreate any   environment in the world with the   appropriate threats and real-world   undersea features.

In a previous HIL/MIL project, the USS Oklahoma City patrolled the clear waters of the Bahamas and launched ‘virtual torpedoes’ at designated ‘targets.’ The virtual torpedo launched was actually real, WAF-based torpedo hardware stimulated to engage the synthetic environment and targets.  Feedback to the Oklahoma City was sent from the WAF through the land-based Synthetic Environment Tactical Integration network. To the Oklahoma City, there was no difference from a real-life scenario, including the capability to control the torpedo and receive real-time feedback. 

Results: More Effective Weapons Systems with Lower Development Costs and Faster Deployment Today, approximately two dozen Concurrent iHawk computers are running RedHawk Linux and utilizing various Concurrent NightStar real-time development tools. These solutions provide the simulation platforms needed by the WAF to develop the applications to test the latest torpedo software and hardware in real-time. 

Like exacting clients in related industries, the Navy requires the guaranteed real-time latency (i.e. response to an external event in less than 15 microseconds) and repeatable, deterministic performance offered by the RedHawk Linux-powered iHawks. The Navy’s complex simulations also take advantage of RedHawk’s real-time optimization of the latest NVIDIA® graphics and CUDA card drivers.

Value Add: High Performance ComputingThe Navy’s WAF leverages the use of GPU programming on iHawk graphics cards to perform digital signal processing in real-time. In essence, lower-priced graphic cards become powerful co-processors _ the paradigm of today’s high-performance computing (HPC).  In fact, Concurrent’s RedHawk Linux is unique in its ability to support real-time programming and GPU processing simultaneously. 

The “Bottom” LineUsing Concurrent Real-Time solutions, submarines, such as those on the USS Oklahoma City, experience more accurate simulations even in the most complex scenarios featuring multiple weapons and targets. This simulation results in more-effective weapons systems with lower development costs and faster deployment.

1 Source: http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_14/torpedoes.html

Using Concurrent Real-Time solutions, submarines, such as those on the USS Oklahoma City, experience more accurate simulations even in the most complex scenarios featuring multiple weapons and targets.

While the success of Concurrent Real-Time is reflected by customer loyalty and new customer acquisition, the industry has also recognized our dedication to innovation. We recently received a Top Simulation and Training Company 2012 award from Military Training Technology magazine based on our continuous improvements to products that serve the simulation market (see page 1).

The year 2012 was a banner year for us because of you, our valued customers and partners. We thank you for your continued support and offer our best wishes for another successful year.

As our name suggests, real-time performance is a key feature of all of our products, and we continue to make improvements through innovation and integration of the latest advances of the Linux platform.

REDHAWK 6.3:MORE FEATURES. MORE INNOVATION. HIGHER PERFORMANCE.

Building on its reputation as the leading Linux distribution for hard real-time applications, RedHawk 6.3 offers improved real-time performance on NUMA systems by replicating kernel code and read-only data in each NUMA node. RedHawk can now ensure that pages of a real-time process are local to a given node and that no other process’s pages are using that same node, automatically maintaining them simultaneously in multiple nodes to maximize performance. The performance of Concurrent’s NightStar development tools for non-intrusive CUDA debugging has been advanced to preserve application execution behavior and determinism. RedHawk version 6.3 also supports low-latency, real-time networking via the high-performance OpenOnload TCP/IP stack over 10 Gbit Ethernet.

In summary, Concurrent Real-Time customers will benefit from the following new RedHawk 6.3 features:• Enhanced 3.5 Linux kernel • Full user compatibility with the Red Hat® Enterprise Linux 6 version 3 user environment • Latest NVIDIA drivers optimized for real-time performance • Latest CUDA parallel computing SDKs • Support for the latest available Intel® and AMD® processors and chipsets• Improved NUMA platform optimization• Latest NVIDIA GPUDirect support • Real-Time Networking via OpenOnload• Improved kernel trace performance• SE Linux security

These advances underscore why Concurrent Real-Time was named one of the Top Simulation and Training Companies for 2012 by Military Training Technology magazine. The award recognizes companies from around the world that have made a significant impact on the military training industry across a wide spectrum of technologies and services.

page 4

But when you think of it in terms of ten years of continuous improvement in a segment of software development that is extremely precise and demanding – that’s something very special. The success and reputation of Concurrent Real-Time’s flagship product, RedHawk Linux real-time operating system, is built on an unflagging commitment to developing better solutions that bring better products to market faster.

From Homegrown Code to an Open EnvironmentBy the late 1990s, Concurrent Computer Corporation had already been developing real-time operating systems for more than three decades. Early on, Concurrent engineers generated their own proprietary kernel code, but by the late ‘80s they realized the features and industrial-strength of UNIX® could provide the basis of RTOS development, especially for modeling and simulation. While UNIX was the best environment at the time, there were significant compatibility problems between different vendors’ versions of UNIX which made portability a issue. In addition, UNIX code was licensed, i.e. not open source. Then came Linux.

RedHawk Really Takes Off with LinuxAlways looking ahead, Concurrent engineers, inspired by customer

RedHawk: Ten Years of Taking Mission-Critical Apps to New Heights

interest, began to explore Linux-based solutions. Already the de facto operating system for scientific and engineering applications by the late 1990s, Linux had many of the characteristics ideally suited to real-time simulation and other mission-critical applications. But it was the robustness and software compatibility of Linux that sealed the deal. By 2000, a new product was in development and in 2002, RedHawk 1.0 was born.

What’s in a (Brand) Name?OK, so why RedHawk? As a major provider to the defense industry, Concurrent used the name “Hawk” in several of its earlier product names, such as Night HawkTM and Power Hawk®. A bird of extraordinary speed and precision is a fitting symbol for high-performance, real-time systems. The modifier “Red” was chosen to denote RedHawk Linux’s compatibility with the popular Red Hat Linux user environment.

Overcoming Resistance to LinuxBeing an early adopter takes knowledge, foresight and faith. While Concurrent

Ten years of doing anything _ and doing it very well _ is certainly something to celebrate.)

RedHawk Linux:On targetevery time.

page 5Visit real-time.ccur.com

Optimizing Real-TimePerformance on NUMA

Modern Intel and AMD-based platforms with two or more processors are Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) systems. In a NUMA system, each processor has its own local memory. Processors are interconnected by a high-speed bus called QuickPath on Intel systems and HyperTransport® on AMD systems. Although all processors on a NUMA system can directly access all of system memory, access to non-local memory is slower than local memory. In time-critical applications, where determinism and guaranteed microsecond level response is essential, application designers must consider the potential latencies caused by NUMA. For the best performance, cross-node memory accesses should be kept to a minimum. In the diagram below, for example, a process running on CPU 1 must cross two interconnect paths to access the memory local to CPU 4.

Concurrent’s RedHawk Linux real-time operating system, unlike standard Linux, includes mechanisms to ensure that pages of a real-time process are local to a given NUMA node and ensure that no other process’ pages are using that same node. RedHawk NUMA optimization features significantly improve the determinism of real-time processes on NUMA systems. RedHawk can automatically duplicate libraries and other modules as needed and hold them simultaneously in multiple nodes to maximize performance. Recently released RedHawk version 6.3 also enhances real-time performance by replicating kernel code and read-only data in each NUMA node. In some cases, RedHawk NUMA optimization can result in application real-time performance improvement up to 20%.

Vince HauberSenior Product Manager, Concurrent Real-Time

For more information about RedHawk 6.3 visit real-time.ccur.com

was one of the first companies to fully commit to real-time Linux – and now the most experienced in the industry – it took a core of forward-looking early adopters to join the revolution. While most customers at the time were heavy UNIX or proprietary RTOS users, they began to see the solidity and reliability of using RedHawk Linux as the platform solution for their mission-critical applications.

Leaving the Nest, RedHawk Spreads Its WingsSure, there were other developers “toying around” with Linux, but none could approach the robustness and versatility of RedHawk. While it took some time for the fledgling RedHawk to mature, it ultimately became what the founding engineers envisioned _ a powerful real-time Linux platform that is currently used by many leading defense, aerospace and automotive industry corporations.

From One Product to End-to-End Solutions – and a Glimpse into the FutureAnyone who knows Concurrent Real-Time, knows that the last ten years has yielded products with names like iHawk, ImaGen, SIMulation Workbench, SIGnal Workbench and GPUWorkbench™. The solutions provide high-performance multiprocessing, multi-channel rendering, complex model control and deterministic GPU computing.

And the future? Concurrent is privileged to have some of the very best Linux engineers in the industry. Many have been with the company for more than 30 years. In RedHawk, they have been able to shape the future, while continually amazing customers with their ability to provide custom solutions and solve difficult real-time problems. In the future, customers will see more enhancements in real-time networking functionality, core scheduling mechanisms and large-scale, distributed interrupt synchronization. The bottom line: more challenges for Concurrent Real-Time, and more value and performance for the customers.

MEM

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1M

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RY 3

MEM

ORY 4

MEM

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CPU 1

Core 1 Core 2

Core 3 Core 4

_ _ _ Core N

CPU 2

Core 1 Core 2

Core 3 Core 4

_ _ _ Core N

CPU 3

Core 1 Core 2

Core 3 Core 4

_ _ _ Core N

CPU 4

Core 1 Core 2

Core 3 Core 4

_ _ _ Core N

page 6

Optimizing Multi-Rate Simulation onMulti-Core Platforms

Corporate websites serve as company resumes, organic product catalogs, industry resources and more. The best corporate sites are easy to navigate, providing visitors ready access to the information they need.

That’s why Concurrent Computer Corporation – which traces its internet presence back to 1986 making it one of the 100 oldest businesses on the web – has chosen to give its customers and prospective customers two paths to the information they seek through two distinct websites. Concurrent’s ccur.com now focuses on our video solutions business, while Concurrent Real-Time’s real-time.ccur.com is dedicated to our real-time solutions side. Our experience has taught us that our customers and website visitors require this kind of specialization – and two separate pathways to knowledge.

YOUR “OFFICIAL” WELCOME TO REAL-TIME.CCUR.COMWhile Concurrent Computer Corporation has organically grown into two separate solution entities, we realize that we never officially welcomed our visitors to the “real-time” side of the business. So please accept our invitation to real-time.ccur.com, where you’ll find the following information:

• Detailed information on all of our products including iHawk, RedHawk Linux and SIMulation Workbench• Descriptions of our key data acquisition, simulation, process control and transaction processing solutions• Video demos on NightStar Tools, GPU WorkBench, and SIMulation Workbench• A variety of case studies that run the gamut from torpedo to race car simulation• SIMulation WorkBench Wiki– accessible through real-time.ccur.com or through its own microsite, wiki.simwb.com

Again, welcome to the real-time solutions side. Make sure to bookmark real-time.ccur.com today and continue to visit the site that should be a key part of your mission-critical application development.

ONE COMPANY. TWO WEBSITES.A COMMON MISSION. Many simulation models are comprised of one or more subsystems

that run at different sampling rates.)SIMulation Workbench automatically configures the different rates in a Simulink model to execute as separate threads (tasks) on the real-time host. SIMulation Workbench honors the task priorities set by Simulink by giving higher priorities to faster rates. Thus, on a multi-core system, different rates in the Simulink model execute as different threads and may execute concurrently on different cores in the system. With the SIMulation Workbench RT Viewer Tool, users can not only display the model’s task execution time, but also change the CPU affinity of the different threads to achieve run-time CPU load balancing.

SIMulation Workbench takes full advantage of RedHawk Linux’s industry-leading real-time performance on today’s large multi-core, multi-socket COTS platforms. RedHawk provides guaranteed real-time response of less than 15 microseconds on certified platforms. SIMulation Workbench leverages this performance by allowing target tasks to be assigned to and shielded on any core in a multi-core system.

For example, in a simulation of a car, a steering subsystem may run at a rate much slower than the engine model while the airbag deployment model may run at a faster rate than the engine. Simulations of this type are called multi-rate. Even though code generated from modeling tools like Simulink® supports single and multi-tasking modes of operation, the multi-tasking code remains single-threaded which limits use of CPU resources on multi-core systems.

Until recently, commercial simulation tools could not take advantage of today’s rapidly evolving multi-core processor technology, i.e. all real-time simulation tasks needed to execute on one processor core, resulting in performance limitations. Concurrent’s SIMulation Workbench running on RedHawk Linux provides an ideal framework for developing and executing complex hardware-in-the-loop and man-in-the-loop simulations on multi-core systems. SIMulation Workbench offers complete multi-threading support for multi-rate, multi-tasking Simulink models.

page 7Visit real-time.ccur.com

Concurrent Real-Time Hits the Road

Global Events Serve Many PurposesWe’ve been busy promoting our real-time solutions and meeting with industry peer groups at various trade shows and conferences throughout the U.S. and abroad this year.

A series of Real-Time & Embedded Computing events throughout the U.S., the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference in San Jose and the High Performance Computing Linux for Wall Street event in New York this year were a few of our exhibit opportunities.

Learning from the Aerospace IndustryIn February, we attended InnoTesting 2013 in Wildau, Germany (near Berlin). This international conference of simulation and testing provided a forum for discussion focused on the transfer of testing methods from aerospace to other industries such as automotive, railroads, maritime shipping, etc. It featured a who’s who list of attendees and sponsors including Rolls-Royce, FTI Group and Anecom Aerotest to name a few. At the conference, Ken Jackson, Concurrent Vice President of Real-Time, was invited to participate in a roundtable panel discussion on how the world of simulation and testing can

become more integrated. He specifically addressed how to compare a real-time simulation against the test results so you can strategically run tests in your simulation and be assured the resulting information is accurate.

In March, we attended the Industrial Cooperation Days in Defense & Aerospace (ICDDA) in Ankara, Turkey. This event enabled us to connect with leaders in the aerospace industry and meet with potential partners. The two-day program included meetings, workshops, OEMs procurement and supply chain policies sessions, and innovative seminars dealing with the most crucial topics of the aerospace, defense and offset sector.

When Fast is Not Enough – Get it in Real-TimeMarburg, Germany was the site of our valued partner VI-grade’s 5th International Users Conference in April themed “When Fast is not Enough, Get it in Real-Time.” Over 150 simulation engineers from all over the world in various industries such as aerospace,automotive, motorsports and railgathered to share their experiences

related to simulation, hardware-in-the-loop and controls.

Ken Jackson participated in a simulation and test-based engineering round table on the future of simulation in the automotive industry. He discussed how Concurrent Real-Time will be continuing to add more simulation features into its product going forward to better integrate the HIL and MIL worlds.

The Show Goes OnAll of the events in which we have participated have helped us create awareness, forge new relationships and develop leading-edge solutions for the markets we serve.

Before we bring our fiscal year to a close, we look forward to exhibiting at ITEC in Rome and Space Tech Expo inCalifornia in May. Visit our website for more details.

Clockwise from top left: VI-grade 5th International Users Conference, Marburg, Germany; Industrial Cooperation Days in Defense and Aerospace, Ankara, Turkey; Real-Time and Embedded Computing Conference

All of the events in which we have participated have helped us create awareness, forge new relationships and develop leading-edge solutionsfor the markets we serve.

A publication

for the real-time

computing industry

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©2013 Concurrent Computer Corporation. Information subject to change without notice. Concurrent Computer Corporation and its logo are registered trademarks of Concurrent. All Concurrent product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Concurrent, while all other product names are trademarks or registered trade marks of their respective owners. The registered trademark Linux® is used pursuant to a sublicense from the Linux Mark Institute, the exclusive licensee of Linus Torvalds, owner of the mark on a worldwide basis. RTlit - 0057 0510 04000

Concurrent Solutions is a newsletter 

published by Concurrent Computer 

Corporation for the real-time 

computing industry.        

Please direct content suggestions, 

comments or questions to the 

Concurrent Solutions Editor:

Lisa Thornhill: Senior Marketing Communications Manager, Real-Time

Concurrent Computer Corporation

lisa.thornhill@ccur.com

(954) 973-5103

ConcurrentSolutions

©ESG GmbH 2012

When  you  need  guaranteed  real-time  performance  for  your  mission-critical 

applications,  take  a  good  hard  look  at  Concurrent  Real-Time  solutions.  Powered 

by our  incomparable RedHawkTM  Linux®,  your  simulation  apps will  fly with high-

performance, multi-channel rendering, complex 

model control and non-intrusive debugging.

Visit real-time.ccur.com to learn more.

Download our “Managing HIL, SIL, and MIL

Simulation” white paper.

ConcurrentSolutions

SEE YOUR APPS TAKE OFF WITH HARD REAL-TIME.