b5cd8d523f02c17511eeab0399a9e5eea8348d31
[phd-thesis.git] / top / int.tex
1 \documentclass[../thesis.tex]{subfiles}
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7 \begin{document}
8 \input{subfileprefix}
9 \chapter{Integration of mTask and iTask}%
10 \label{chp:integration_with_itask}
11 \begin{chapterabstract}
12 This chapter shows the integration of \gls{MTASK} and \gls{ITASK} by showing:
13 \begin{itemize}
14 \item an architectural overview of \gls{MTASK} applications;
15 \item the interface for connecting devices;
16 \item the interface for lifting \gls{MTASK} tasks to \gls{ITASK} tasks;
17 \item a interface for lowering \gls{ITASK} \glspl{SDS} to \gls{MTASK} \glspl{SDS};
18 \item and a non-trivial home automation example application using all integration mechanisms;
19 \end{itemize}
20 \end{chapterabstract}
21
22 The \gls{MTASK} system is a \gls{TOP} \gls{DSL} for edge devices.
23 It is a multi-view \gls{DSL}, there are multiple interpretations possible for a single \gls{MTASK} term.
24 The main interpretation of \gls{MTASK} terms is the byte code compiler, \cleaninline{:: BCInterpret a}.
25 When using this interpretation and a few integration functions, \gls{MTASK} tasks are fully integrated in \gls{ITASK}.
26 They execute as regular \gls{ITASK} tasks and they can access \glspl{SDS} from \gls{ITASK}.
27 Devices in the \gls{MTASK} system are set up with a domain-specific \gls{OS} and become little \gls{TOP} engines in their own respect, being able to execute tasks.
28
29 \Cref{fig:mtask_integration} shows the architectural layout of a typical \gls{IOT} system created with \gls{ITASK} and \gls{MTASK}.
30 The entire system is written as a single \gls{CLEAN} specification where multiple tasks are executed at the same time.
31 Tasks can access \glspl{SDS} according to many-to-many communication and multiple clients can work on the same task.
32 The diagram contains three labelled arrows that denote the integration functions between \gls{ITASK} and \gls{MTASK}.
33 Devices are connected to the system using the \cleaninline{withDevice} function (see \cref{sec:withdevice}).
34 Using \cleaninline{liftmTask}, \gls{MTASK} tasks are lifted to a device (see \cref{sec:liftmtask}).
35 \glspl{SDS} from \gls{ITASK} are lowered to the \gls{MTASK} device using \cleaninline{lowerSds} (see \cref{sec:liftsds}).
36
37 \begin{figure}
38 \centering
39 \includestandalone{mtask_integration}
40 \caption{An architectural overview of an \imtask{} application.}%
41 \label{fig:mtask_integration}
42 \end{figure}
43
44 \section{Connecting edge devices}\label{sec:withdevice}
45 Edge devices in an \gls{MTASK} application are always coordinated by a server.
46 This means that they wait for a server to take initiative, set up a connection, and send the work.
47 The heavy lifting of connecting an \gls{MTASK} device to an \gls{ITASK} server is done with the \cleaninline{withDevice} \gls{ITASK} function.
48 This function has two parameters, a communication specification, and a function using a device handle.
49 The device handle is required to interact with \gls{MTASK} devices, e.g.\ lift tasks.
50 By using \gls{HOAS} like this, setting up and tearing down the connection to the device is fully controlled.
51
52 All communication with a device happens through a so-called \emph{channels} \gls{SDS}.
53 The channels contain three fields, a queue of messages that are received, a queue of messages to send, and a stop flag.
54 Every communication method that implements the \cleaninline{channelSync} class can provide the communication with an \gls{MTASK} device.
55 At the time of writing, serial port, direct \gls{TCP}, and \gls{MQTT} over \gls{TCP} are supported communication methods (see \cref{lst:connection_types}).
56 Internally, the \cleaninline{withDevice} task sets up the communication, exchanges specifications with the device, executes the inner task while handling errors, and finally cleans up after closing.
57 \Cref{lst:mtask_device} shows the types and interface for connecting devices.
58
59 \begin{lstClean}[label={lst:mtask_device},caption={Device communication interface in \gls{MTASK}.}]
60 :: MTDevice //abstract
61 :: Channels :== ([MTMessageFro], [MTMessageTo], Bool)
62
63 class channelSync a :: a (Shared sds Channels) -> Task () | RWShared sds
64
65 withDevice :: a (MTDevice -> Task b)
66 -> Task b | iTask b & channelSync, iTask a
67 \end{lstClean}
68
69 \subsection{Implementation}
70 \Cref{lst:pseudo_withdevice} shows a pseudocode implementation of the \cleaninline{withDevice} function.
71 The \cleaninline{MTDevice} abstract type is internally represented as three \gls{ITASK} \gls{SDS} that contain all the current information about the tasks.
72 The first \gls{SDS} is the information about the \gls{RTS} of the device, i.e.\ metadata on the tasks that are executing, the hardware specification and capabilities, and a list of fresh task identifiers.
73 The second \gls{SDS} is a map storing downstream \gls{SDS} updates.
74 When a lowered \gls{SDS} is updated on the device, a message is sent to the server.
75 This message is initially queued in the map in order to properly handly multiple updates asychronously.
76 Finally, the \cleaninline{MTDevices} type contains the communication channels.
77
78 The \cleaninline{withDevice} task itself first constructs the \glspl{SDS} using the \gls{ITASK} function \cleaninline{withShared}.
79 Then, it performs the following four tasks in parallel to monitor the edge device.
80 \begin{enumerate}
81 \item The channels are synchronised using the overloaded \cleaninline{channelSync} function.
82 Errors that occur here are converted to the proper \gls{MTASK} or \gls{ITASK} exception.
83 \item The shutdown flag of the channels is watched.
84 If the connection is lost with the device unexpectedly, an \gls{MTASK} exception is thrown.
85 \item The received messages in the channels are watched and processed.
86 Depending on the type of message, either the device information \gls{SDS} is updated, or the \gls{SDS} update is added to the lowered \gls{SDS} updates \gls{SDS}.
87 \item A request for a specification is sent.
88 Once the specification is received, the device task is run.
89 The task value of this device task is then used as the task value of the \cleaninline{withDevice} task.
90 \end{enumerate}
91
92 \begin{lstClean}[caption={Pseudocode for the \texttt{withDevice} function in \gls{MTASK}.},label={lst:pseudo_withdevice}]
93 withDevice spec deviceTask =
94 withShared default \dev->parallel
95 withShared newMap \sdsupdates->
96 withShared ([], [MTTSpecRequest], False) \channels->
97 [ channelSync spec channels
98 , watchForShutdown channels
99 , watchChannelMessages dev channels
100 , waitForSpecification
101 >>| deviceTask (MTDevice dev sdsupdates channels)
102 >>* [ifStable: issueShutdown]
103 ]
104 \end{lstClean}
105
106 If at any stage an unrecoverable device error occurs, an \gls{ITASK} exception is thrown in the \cleaninline{withDevice} task.
107 This exception can be caught in order to devise fail-safe mechanisms.
108 For example, if a device fails, the task can be sent to another device as can be seen in \cref{lst:failover}.
109 This function executes an \gls{MTASK} task on a pool of devices connected through \gls{TCP}.
110 If a device error occurs during execution, the next device in the pool is tried until the pool is exhausted.
111 If another type of error occurs, it is rethrown for a parent task to catch.
112
113 \begin{lstClean}[caption={An \gls{MTASK} failover combinator.},label={lst:failover}]
114 failover :: [TCPSettings] (Main (MTask BCInterpret a)) -> Task a
115 failover [] _ = throw "Exhausted device pool"
116 failover [d:ds] mtask = try (withDevice d (liftmTask mtask)) except
117 where except MTEUnexpectedDisconnect = failover ds mtask
118 except _ = throw e
119 \end{lstClean}
120
121 \section{Lifting mTask tasks}\label{sec:liftmtask}
122 Once the connection with the device is established, \gls{MTASK} tasks are lifted to \gls{ITASK} tasks using the \cleaninline{liftmTask} function (see \cref{lst:liftmtask}).
123 Given an \gls{MTASK} task in the \cleaninline{BCInterpret} view and a device handle obtained from \cleaninline{withDevice}, an \gls{ITASK} task is returned.
124 This \gls{ITASK} task proxies the \gls{MTASK} task that is executed on the microcontroller.
125 So, when another task observes the task value, the actual task value from the microcontroller is observed.
126
127 \begin{lstClean}[label={lst:liftmtask},caption={The interface for lifting \gls{MTASK} tasks to \gls{ITASK} tasks.}]
128 liftmTask :: (Main (MTask BCInterpret a)) MTDevice -> Task a | iTask a
129 \end{lstClean}
130
131 \subsection{Implementation}
132 \Cref{lst:liftmTask_pseudo} shows the pseudocode for the \cleaninline{liftmTask} implementation
133 The first argument is the task and the second argument is the device which is an \gls{ADT} containing the \glspl{SDS} referring to the device information, the \gls{SDS} update queue, and the channels.
134 First a fresh identifier for the task is generated using the device state.
135 With this identifier, the cleanup hook can be installed.
136 This is done to assure the task is removed from the edge device if the \gls{ITASK} task coordinating it is destroyed.
137 Tasks in \gls{ITASK} are destroyed when for example it is executed in parallel with another task and the parallel combinator terminates, or when the condition to step holds in a sequential task combination.
138 Then the \gls{MTASK} compiler is invoked, its only argument besides the task is a function doing something with the results of the compilation, i.e.\ the lowered \glspl{SDS} and the messages containing the compiled and serialised task.
139 With the result of the compilation, the task can be executed.
140 First the messages are put in the channels, sending them to the device.
141 Then, in parallel:
142 \begin{enumerate}
143 \item the value is watched by looking in the device state \gls{SDS}, this task also determines the task value of the whole task;
144 \item the downstream \glspl{SDS} are monitored, i.e.\ the \cleaninline{sdsupdates} \gls{SDS} is monitored and updates from the device are applied to the associated \gls{ITASK} \gls{SDS};
145 \item the upstream \glspl{SDS} are monitored by spawning tasks that watch these \glspl{SDS}, if one is updated, the novel value is sent to the edge device.
146 \end{enumerate}
147
148 \begin{lstClean}[label={lst:liftmTask_pseudo},caption={Pseudocode implementation for \texttt{liftmTask}.}]
149 liftmTask task (MTDevice dev sdsupdates channels)
150 = freshTaskId dev
151 >>= \tid->withCleanupHook (sendmessage [MTTTaskDel tid] channels) (
152 compile task \mrefs msgs->
153 sendMessage msgs channels
154 >>| waitForReturnAndValue tid dev
155 -|| watchSharesDownstream mrefs tid sdsupdates
156 -|| watchSharesUpstream mrefs channels tid)
157 \end{lstClean}
158
159 Sending the complete byte code to the device is not always a suitable option.
160 For example, when the device is connected through an unstable or slow connection, sending the entire byte code induces a lot of delay.
161 To mitigate this problem, \gls{MTASK} tasks can be preloaded on a device.
162 Preloading means that the task is compiled and integrated into the device firmware.
163 On receiving a \cleaninline{TaskPrep}, a hashed value of the task to be sent is included.
164 The device then checks the preloaded task registry and uses the local preloaded version if the hash matches.
165 Of course this only works for tasks that are not tailor made for the current work specification and not depend on run time information.
166 The interface for task preloading can be found in \cref{lst:preload}.
167 Given an \gls{MTASK} task, a header file is created that should be placed in the source code directory of the \gls{RTS} before building to include it in the firmware.
168
169 \begin{lstClean}[label={lst:preload},caption={Preloading tasks in \gls{MTASK}.}]
170 preloadTask :: (Main (MTask BCInterpret a)) -> Task String
171 \end{lstClean}
172
173 \section{Lowering iTask shared data sources}\label{sec:liftsds}
174 Lowering \gls{ITASK} \glspl{SDS} to \gls{MTASK} \glspl{SDS} is something that mostly happens at the \gls{DSL} level using the \cleaninline{lowerSds} function (see \cref{lst:mtask_itasksds}).
175 Lowering \pgls{SDS} proxies the \gls{ITASK} \gls{SDS} for use in \gls{MTASK}.
176 \Glspl{SDS} in \gls{MTASK} always have an initial value.
177 For regular \gls{SDS} this value is given in the source code, for lowered \gls{ITASK} \glspl{SDS} this value is obtained by reading the values once just before sending the task to the edge device.
178 On the device, there is just one difference between lowered \glspl{SDS} and regular \glspl{SDS}: after changing a lowered \gls{SDS}, a message is sent to the server containing this new value.
179 The \cleaninline{withDevice} task (see \cref{sec:withdevice}) receives and processes this message by writing to the \gls{ITASK} \gls{SDS}.
180 Tasks watching this \gls{SDS} get notified then through the normal notification mechanism of \gls{ITASK}.
181 \Cref{lst:imp_sds} shows the implementation of this type class for the byte code compiler.
182
183 \begin{lstClean}[label={lst:mtask_itasksds},caption={Lowered \gls{ITASK} \glspl{SDS} in \gls{MTASK}.}]
184 class lowerSds v where
185 lowerSds :: ((v (Sds t)) -> In (Shared sds t) (Main (MTask v u)))
186 -> Main (MTask v u) | RWShared sds
187 \end{lstClean}
188
189 As an example, \cref{lst:mtask_liftsds_ex} shows a light switch function producing an \imtask{} task when given a device handle.
190 First an \gls{ITASK} \gls{SDS} of the type boolean is created.
191 This boolean represents the state of the light.
192 The \gls{MTASK} task uses this \gls{SDS} to turn on or off the light.
193 The \gls{ITASK} task that runs in parallel allows interactive updating of this state.
194
195 \begin{lstClean}[label={lst:mtask_liftsds_ex},caption={Interactive light switch program in \gls{MTASK}.}]
196 lightswitch :: MTDevice -> Task Bool
197 lightswitch dev = withShared False \sh->
198 liftmTask (mtask sh) dev
199 -|| updateSharedInformation [] sh
200 <<@ Hint "Light switch"
201 where
202 mtask :: (Shared sds Bool) -> Main (MTask v Bool)
203 | mtask, lowerSds v & RWShared sds
204 mtask sh =
205 declarePin D13 PMOutput \d13->
206 lowerSds \ls=sh
207 In fun \f=(\st->
208 getSds ls
209 >>*. [IfValue (\v->v !=. st) (\v->writeD d13 v)]
210 >>|. f (Not st))
211 In {main=f true}
212 \end{lstClean}
213
214 \section{Conclusion}
215 When \gls{IOT} edge devices run the \gls{MTASK} \gls{RTS}, they become little \gls{TOP} engines of their own.
216 Using just three \gls{ITASK} functions, \gls{MTASK} devices are integrated in \gls{ITASK} seamlessly.
217 Devices, using any supported type of connection, are integrated in \gls{ITASK} using the \cleaninline{withDevice} function.
218 Once connected, \gls{MTASK} tasks are sent to the device for execution using \cleaninline{liftmTask}, lifting them to full-fledged \gls{ITASK} tasks.
219 To lower the bandwidth, tasks can also be preloaded.
220 Furthermore, the \gls{MTASK} tasks interact with \gls{ITASK} \glspl{SDS} using the \cleaninline{lowerSds} construct.
221 All of this together allows programming all layers of an \gls{IOT} system from a single source and in a single paradigm.
222 All details regarding interoperation are automatically taken care of.
223 The following section contains an elaborate example using all integration functions that has deliberately been placed after the conclusion so that the code listing and description are on facing pages.
224
225 \begin{figure}[p]
226 \begin{fullpage}
227 % \begin{leftfullpage}
228 \vspace{\headsep}
229 \section{Home automation}
230 This section presents an interactive home automation program (\cref{lst:example_home_automation}) to illustrate the integration of the \gls{MTASK} language and the \gls{ITASK} system.
231 It consists of a web interface for the user to control which tasks are executed on either one of two connected devices: an \gls{ARDUINO} UNO, connected via a serial port; and an ESP8266 based prototyping board called NodeMCU, connected via \gls{TCP} over \gls{WIFI}.
232
233 \Crefrange{lst:example:spec1}{lst:example:spec2} show the specification for the devices.
234 The UNO is connected via serial using the unix filepath \path{/dev/ttyACM0} and the default serial port settings.
235 The NodeMCU is connected via \gls{WIFI} and hence the \cleaninline{TCPSettings} record is used.
236 Both types have \cleaninline{channelSync} instances.
237
238 The code consists of an \gls{ITASK} part and several \gls{MTASK} parts.
239 \Crefrange{lst:example:task1}{lst:example:task2} contains the \gls{ITASK} task that coordinates the \gls{IOT} application.
240 First the devices are connected (\crefrange{lst:example:conn1}{lst:example:conn2}) followed by launching a \cleaninline{parallel} task, visualized as a tabbed window, and a shutdown button to terminate the program (\crefrange{lst:example:par1}{lst:example:par2}).
241 This parallel task is the controller of the tasks that run on the edge devices.
242 It contains one task that allows adding new tasks (using \cleaninline{appendTask}) and all other tasks in the process list will be \gls{MTASK} tasks once they are added by the user.
243 The controller task, \cleaninline{chooseTask} as shown in \crefrange{lst:example:ct1}{lst:example:ct2}, allows the user to pick a task, and sending it to the specified device.
244 Tasks are picked by index from the \cleaninline{tasks} list (\crefrange{lst:example:tasks1}{lst:example:tasks2}) using \cleaninline{enterChoice}.
245 The interface that is generated for this is seen in \cref{fig:example_screenshots1}.
246 After selecting the task, a device is selected (see \cref{fig:example_screenshots2,lst:example:selectdev}).
247 When both a task and a device are selected, an \gls{ITASK} task is added to the process list using \cleaninline{appendTask}.
248 Using the helper function \cleaninline{mkTask}, the actual task is selected from the \cleaninline{tasks} list and executed by providing it the device argument.
249 For example, when selecting the \cleaninline{temperature} task, the current temperature is shown to the user (\cref{fig:example_screenshots3}).
250 This task just sends a simple temperature monitoring task to the device using \cleaninline{liftmTask} and provides a view on its task value using the \cleaninline{>\&>} \gls{ITASK} combinator.
251 This combinator allows the observation of the left-hand side task's value through \pgls{SDS}.
252 The light switch task at \crefrange{lst:example:ls1}{lst:example:ls2} is a task that has bidirectional interaction using the definition of \cleaninline{lightswitch} shown in \cref{lst:mtask_liftsds_ex}.
253 Using \cleaninline{lowerSds}, the status of the light switch is synchronised with the user.
254 Finally, a task that calculates the factorial of a user-provided number is shown in the list.
255
256 \vspace{4ex}
257 \begin{center}
258 \begin{subfigure}[b]{.3\linewidth}
259 \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{home_auto1}
260 \caption{Select task.}%
261 \label{fig:example_screenshots1}
262 \end{subfigure}
263 \begin{subfigure}[b]{.3\linewidth}
264 \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{home_auto2}
265 \caption{Select device.}%
266 \label{fig:example_screenshots2}
267 \end{subfigure}
268 \begin{subfigure}[b]{.3\linewidth}
269 \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{home_auto3}
270 \caption{View result.}%
271 \label{fig:example_screenshots3}
272 \end{subfigure}
273 \caption{Screenshots of the home automation example program in action.}%
274 \label{fig:example_screenshots}
275 \end{center}
276 %\end{leftfullpage}
277 \end{fullpage}
278 \end{figure}
279
280 \begin{figure}[p]
281 \begin{fullpage}
282 \cleaninputlisting[firstline=12,lastline=50,numbers=left,belowskip=0pt]{lst/example.icl}
283 \begin{lstClean}[numbers=left,firstnumber=40,aboveskip=0pt,caption={An example of a home automation program.},label={lst:example_home_automation}]
284 , ...][+\label{lst:example:tasks2}+]\end{lstClean}
285 \end{fullpage}
286 \end{figure}
287
288 \input{subfilepostamble}
289 \end{document}