Get your own Free Home Page
KENNETH LIM @ ART PAGES
APPENDIX F
The TRON project may prove to be Japan's next wave of technological colonization. An ambitious project, but modest compared to the Fifth Generation Project. It seeks a full integration and a global computer standard, that may seem utopian.
Subject: Overview of the TRON Project
TRON (The Real-time Operating system Nucleus) is a project started by Dr. Ken Sakamura of the University of Tokyo in 1984. The project is aimed at creating an ideal computer architecture. Private industry is cooperating with academia to bring a whole new computer order into reality.
The TRON Project is being carried out viewing the future computerized society. In the computerized society, all the tools, appliances, equipment and other objects making up our living environment will be computerized. The long-term goal of the TRON Project is to develop equipment and other objects making up our living environment will be computerized. The long-term goal of the TRON Project is to develop highly functionally distributed system (HFDS), in which each of these computerized objects is able to work in cooperation with other objects. These computerized objects are called intelligent objects.
Work is now going ahead on various subprojects, including five fundamental subprojects and five application subprojects. The fundamental subprojects study each component of computer systems required for the construction of HFDS. They include the TRON-specification CHIP (VLSI microprocessor architecture), ITRON (real-time multi-task OS specifications for embedded control applications), BTRON (an architecture centering on OS specifications for use in personal computers and workstations), CTRON (OS interface specifications for communication and information processing), and MTRON (an attached operating system architecture, still in the basic research stage).
The application subprojects assume actual applications in HFDS, find problems in them, break the problems down into more concrete sub-problems, and solve each. They can be seen as small-scale simulations of the future computerized society. They are also important as the means for evaluating the architecture being developed in the fundamental projects. The application subprojects use the results of the fundamental projects to solve the problems, and the fundamental projects can receive feedbacks from the application subprojects.
1. For the 1990's and on to the 21st century
The TRON Project aims at an ideal computer architecture targeted at the technological levels of the 1990's and into the 21st century. This ideal is premised on VLSI technology, extensive use of real-time processing, emphasis on performance, and the ultimate realization of the von Neumann architecture.
The TRON Project is applying consistent and brand-new design principles to architectures spanning the whole range of computer applications, from consumer electronics and personal computers to industrial robots, large-scale computers, and telephone switching systems.
2. Open architecture
A key policy of the TRON Project is that the results of the project are made available to the public in the form of published specifications. Anyone throughout the world is free to develop and market products implementing the specifications. This is very important to make the concept of HFDS popular. The TRON Association has been established as the core organization for the purpose of preparing the TRON specification references and conducting conformance testing. Membership in the TRON Association is 23the purpose of preparing the TRON specification references and conducting conformance testing. Membership in the TRON Association is open to anyone in the world who shares in the objectives of the TRON Project and agrees to observe the TRON Association's rules.
3. Loose standardization
TRON specifications set rules for computer interfaces, but are not presupposing any particular hardware or software. They do not specify the operating systems themselves, but only the interfaces. The aims are to achieve program and data compatibility, to reduce development costs, and to facilitate the training of users and application programmers.
The TRON Project adopts loose standardization, which standardizes only the design concepts. The real systems are built by implementors in free along with the standardized design concepts. The loose standardization is a reasonable compromise to have both the adoption of emerging technologies and the compatibility of various components standardization is a reasonable compromise to have both the adoption of emerging technologies and the compatibility of various components of HFDS.
Interface functions are specified hierarchically; they consist of the microprocessor instruction set, operating system nucleus ("kernel"), operating system outer nucleus, and application programs. Hierarchical specification makes it possible to implement each layer separately by different companies. Even if the implementations below a given layer are different, the upper layers can still be used as is. Moreover, because of the consistent architecture throughout, standardization is achieved while allowing numerous companies to participate in free competition.
4. Compatibility with the future
The TRON Project is freeing the computer world from the fetters of compatibility with the past, for the sake of compatibility with the future. Most microprocessors of today are extensions of early compatibility with the past, for the sake of compatibility with the future. Most microprocessors of today are extensions of early architectures. They are like houses that have been enlarged many times. TRON, on the other hand, is building a brand new architecture on the basis of the VLSI technology of the future. It assumes a 32-bit base, expandable to 64 bits. TRON specifies a standard data format called TAD (TRON Application Databus) guaranteeing data interchange across applications. The TAD format also offers a way of achieving coexistence with the world of existing operating systems.
5. Drive computers like a car -- standard operation --
Another goal of the TRON Project is to allow anyone to use computers. Something like this already exists with automobiles, all of which are driven in basically the same way regardless of manufacture or model. Similar standardized human machine interface is needed especially for personal computers, allowing hardware and applications to be upgraded Similar standardized human machine interface is needed especially for personal computers, allowing hardware and applications to be upgraded or changed without any extra load for re-learning.
Fundamental Subprojects
1. TRON-specification CHIP
A series of general-purpose microprocessors are necessary to build intelligent objects. The TRON-specification CHIP is an original design of VLSI microprocessor specification to support the components of HFDS. The TRON-specification CHIP is designed with future expansion in mind so that the semiconductor technology of the 1990's and the 21st century will be well-utilized. The first versions are 32 bits, but extension to 64 bits is straightforward. extension to 64 bits is straightforward. The instruction set includes special instructions to support ITRON and BTRON efficiently. Also, frequently used instructions are encoded in more compact bit assignment and can be executed efficiently. In order to meet various cost/performance requirements, there is a family of processors that can be used for products ranging from cheap intelligent objects to high-performance engineering workstations. System bus standards for the TRON-specification CHIP are also being studied. Actually, two sets of bus standards are being devised. One is called TOXBUS and is intended for high-speed synchronous transfer among processors, memory and I/O devices. The other is general-purpose asynchronous bus called TOBUS. TRON-specification CHIP is implemented by different manufactures simultaneously, and thus lives up to its name as a truly standardized architecture. A number of manufacturers have already developed the simultaneously, and thus lives up to its name as a truly standardized architecture. A number of manufacturers have already developed the Gmicro/100,200,300, TX1/TX3, MN10400, and O32 microprocessors. In the present, more high-performance processors such as Gmicro/400,500 are under development. Besides, development tools such as compilers and debuggers are also released.
2. ITRON (Industrial TRON)
ITRON is an architecture for the real-time operating system for embedded computers. It is used as the real-time multitasking operating system for intelligent objects. A series of the ITRON specifications is already published. The series includes uITRON (micro-ITRON), which is targeted for low-cost microcontrollers or 8 bit microprocessors, ITRON1 for 16 bit processors, and ITRON2 for 32 bit processors like the TRON-specification CHIP. In addition, the ITRON/FILE specification provides with file management functions, which is compatible with the BTRON file system. 50addition, the ITRON/FILE specification provides with file management functions, which is compatible with the BTRON file system. About twenty products implementing the ITRON specifications are now available on the market from a number of manufacturers and get great popularity in actual use of this field.
Current research involves designing ITRON-MP, which is the extension of ITRON for shared-memory multiprocessor systems ("MP" stands for MultiProcessor), and ITRON-N, which is the extension for distributed systems ("N" stands for Network). These two extensions will be integrated to IMTRON, which is a milestone to MTRON.
3. BTRON (Business TRON)
BTRON is an architecture for personal computers or workstations which supports smooth interaction between human and machines. The important features of BTRON is the uniform human machine interface (HMI) and the data compatibility using portable interchange format called TRON Application Databus (TAD). The main feature of the BTRON HMI is graphical user interface (GUI) using a keyboard and an electronic pen as input devices. A touch-panel version of HMI guideline and a pen-only version are also under development.
The TRON HMI Guideline also supports several kinds of physical interaction parts, such as buttons, switches, and handles for the adaptability to various users and applications. The HMI created according to the guideline will be unified in a consistent manner so that users can move from one system to the other without any difficulty with incompatible HMI's. TAD is the standard to provide with data compatibility among the computers designed according to the TRON architecture. TAD is designed to be a universal data exchange format, which features real-time like voice and video, and various environment information, as well as conventional texts and ordinary graphics. Two operating system specification to satisfy these objectives have been developed. One is BTRON1, which is designed for machines with very limited hardware resources and has already been released. The other is BTRON2, which is designed to take advantage of hardware resources on powerful computer systems on the basis of TRON-specification CHIP.
The TRON-concept keyboard has been developed for BTRON-specification computers. It is designed to be easy to use and causes less fatigue than conventional keyboard. Electronic digitizing pen is used as a pointing device which is advantageous in drawing figures or characters. The uBTRON (micro-BTRON) bus specification defines a new personal LAN. This bus is for connections of peripheral equipments called "electronic stationery" to BTRON-specification computers. It aims to achieve real-time performance and to be easy to use. Current research includes a new window system architecture for BTRON2, TRON Application Control-flow Language (TACL), which serves as a graphical batch language for BTRON, and the establishment of the multimedia TAD specification.
4. CTRON (Central/Communication TRON)
CTRON is a set of common operating system interfaces applicable to each of the information communication network nodes including ITRON and BTRON nodes. The CTRON interface is applied to various processors from microprocessor to mainframe in network. Currently, several software products on the basis of the CTRON specification have already been developed.
One of the important research issues in CTRON subproject is software portability for real-time systems. The CTRON software portability experiment started in 1990 and is continued to evaluate the contribution of the CTRON specification to software portability.
5. MTRON (Macro TRON)
The key issue to realize HFDS is the MTRON subproject. MTRON is a methodology to build an "operating system" for the large computer networks included in an HFDS. Research on MTRON has become active recently because the components of MTRON have become available as the results of the other fundamental subprojects. The MTRON subproject is in the basic research stage. The most important research topic is the programmable interface using TRON Universal Language System (TULS).
Application Subprojects
1. TRON-concept Intelligent House
The TRON-concept Intelligent House is an experimental house used for research into the future of home automation. The pilot house was completed in December 1989 in Tokyo's Nishi-Azabu district. This pilot house is now the stage of intensive experiments simulating living in the automated dwelling of the near future. The simulations attempt to find out the nature of future style of living and explore their possibilities. Computers and sensors in the intelligent house make overall judgments on outdoor and indoor conditions, then operate as an integrated system to provide maximum comfort. For example, temperature and humidity are For example, temperature and humidity are controlled not only by the air conditioning system, but also by automatic opening and closing of the house to outdoor air as weather conditions dictate. Moreover, a uniform operating method is adopted throughout all the systems in the house, for ease of operation by the young and the old alike.
2. TRON-concept Intelligent Building
The purpose of the TRON-concept Intelligent Building is to use the results of fundamental subprojects, applying them in the design of computerized building systems, and realizing office space that is better suited to the people working in them. The TRON-concept Intelligent Buildings, now being planned for actual construction in the near future, will incorporate the TRON concept of HFDS. Computers, sensors, and actuators will be built into the lights, air conditioners, windows and other building parts. These various subsystems will be capable of communicating with each other so that they can coordinate their actions, improving overall efficiency and creating better environments for those in the building. A network of BTRON-specification personal computers will enhance communication in the building. At the same time, automated storage and conveyance systems using robots will streamline the flow of documents and other materials throughout the building.
3. Chiba TRON-concept Computer City
Chiba TRON-concept Computer City will incorporate TRON Project concepts on a large scale, raising human living comfort and also improving intellectual productivity. All aspects of the city, including office buildings, dwellings, and roads, are computerized, with the individual systems networked together. The city is planned to be completed at the beginning of the 21st century. In this city of the future, for example, intelligent automobiles will be able to travel to their destinations on automatic pilot. Sensors in roads will warn nearby cars if someone should suddenly run out onto the roadway. Computer networks linking office buildings will enable the same workto be performed in any of the building. Working at home will alsobecome more feasible thanks to the advanced communication andtransport links.
4. TRON-based Autotraffic Information System
TRON-based autotraffic information system subproject studies into an automobile traffic network system for the future computer society. In the system envisioned, automobiles will be linked with each other and also with roads and with cities, in networks of free-flowing information that will bring new safety and ease to automobile cruise. Research in the preliminary stage will focus on the functions required in future automobiles, and on making the system easy to operate. The group intends to draw up guidelines on standardizing human interface aspects and on uses of IC cards for personal identification.
5. BTRON Multimedia Communication
The BTRON specifications are the basis of personal computers, workstations and other terminals designed to handle a variety of media, including audio and video, along with text and ordinary graphics. Meanwhile, developments in the telecommunications field such as ISDN make it possible to transmit multimedia data via telephone lines. The BTRON multimedia communication subproject is studying ways of combining BTRON multimedia capabilities with ISDN and other forms of high-speed communications, thus enhancing the communication-effectiveness of computer environments. The subproject is presently working on multimedia communication protocols, developing multimedia communication functions on BTRON-specification machines, researching the uses of multimedia communication, and carrying on various experiments related to multimedia communication.
Fundamental Concepts Governing the TRON Project
1. The computer architecture TRON originated by Dr. Ken Sakamura is an open computer architecture. The TRON specifications aremade publicly available to anyone in the world.
2. Copyrights to the TRON Specifications belong to the TRON Association. Anyone is entitled to utilize the TRON Specifications in developing and merchandising products conforming to the TRON Specifications.
3. The TRON Association has been established as the coreorganization for the purpose of preparing the TRON Specifications, conducting conformance testing, and otherwise promoting the TRON Project. Membership in the TRON Association is open to anyone in the world who shares in the objectives of the TRON Project and agrees to observe the TRON Association's rules.
TRON Electronic Equipment HMI Research Group, TRON Association
TRONSHOW Steering Committee
Contact:
TRON Association Katsuta Building 5F
39 TRON Association Katsuta Building 5F
3-39, Mita 1-chome, Minato-ku Tokyo 108 JAPAN
Tel. +81-3-3454-3191 FAX +81-3-3454-3224
Chapter 1: Attention for Sale: Capitalism and Interactive Computers Chapter 2: Defining Human-Computer Interaction Chapter 3: Representing our Worlds: Digital Translation Chapter 4: Digital Intelligence: Parallel flow of Multiples? Chapter 5: Japanese Philosophy & Artificial Intelligence Research Soundwaves Conclusion Appendix A, B, C, D, E, F, G Bibliography
This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page