An event-based middleware for the remote management of runtime hardware reconfiguration

A procedure to remotely control hardware reconfiguration at runtime is introduced in this paper. Low-level interactions are abstracted by a middleware service that can be called by requests issued by the user or by the underlying operating system. The dynamic loading of hardware modules is managed by a kernel reacting to user-defined events with a customizable scheduling strategy. The system has been designed in a flexible and portable way to support most common runtime reconfiguration approaches and operating systems. Interactions with the middleware are based on commands allowing custom composition and scheduling of hardware modules after deployment. The operation of the middleware is illustrated with the example of a remotely reconfigurable sensor node in a high-performance wireless sensor network.