Concurrent Exception Handling and Resolution in Distributed Object Systems
Brian Randell--Brendan Murphy Award Lecture
University of Newcastle
We address the problem of how to handle exceptions in distributed object systems. In a distributed computing
environment exceptions may be raised simultaneously in different processing nodes and need to be treated in a
coordinated manner. Mishandling concurrent exceptions can lead to catastrophic consequences. We take two kinds of
concurrency into account, arising from: (i) several objects that are designed collectively and invoked concurrently
to achieve a global goal, and (ii) multiple objects (or object groups) that are designed independently and compete for
the same system resources. A new distributed algorithm for resolving concurrent exceptions has been developed - and
several case studies undertaken. These include one that involved the design, implementation and validation of
a control system for the "Fault-Tolerant Production Cell", a safety-critical system design challenge posed by FZI
(Forschungszentrum Informatik).
Joint work with Jie Xu and Alexander Romanovsky.
