RAP: a real-time Ada protocol for tactical applications

Describes the design of a communications architecture to support Ada-based real-time distributed processing systems and an implementation of this architecture compatible with the OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) seven-layer reference model. The real-time Ada protocol (RAP) was designed and implemented to provide a standard network communications interface to the distributed Ada applications, such as those found in tactical systems. RAP was also designed to support the low-latency communication requirements commonly associated with the tactical systems. The initial version of RAP has been implemented in a UNIX environment and has been tested using optical and nonoptical media. The implementation of the RAP protocol and results from extensive performance tests are described. Finally, conclusions, lessons learned, and plans for future implementations and enhancements are discussed