The development of real-time systems that are distributed over a wide area is a significant problem that has challenged researchers for many years. Such systems require precise timing of actions throughout, but wide area networks tend to have variable delays that greatly reduce determinism.

The framework described here supports the composition of wide-area real-time Distributed Virtual Computer systems from deterministic components to provide precise timing from end-to-end. The framework will use switched optical networks such as those being developed for the OptIPuter project for wellregulated long-distance paths yielding low jitter. Within campus networks, the Time-Triggered Ethernet technology will provide deterministic switching of packets for real-time applications while supporting legacy IP traffic. Finally, at the edges, the Timetriggered Message-triggered Object (TMO) Support Middleware will manage resources to provide realtime operations while supporting an easy-to-program interface and high-level timing specification.