This open-access educational module covers the distributed computing architecture, inter-process communication models, middleware specifications, and real-time execution graphs of the Robot Operating System (ROS and ROS 2).
Core Technical Topics
-
Distributed Computational Architecture: Process isolation across modular nodes, polyglot software design, and transition from centralized ROS 1 XML-RPC Masters to decentralized ROS 2 Data Distribution Service (DDS) architectures.
-
Inter-Process Communication Patterns: Asynchronous publish-subscribe streaming over topics, synchronous request-response transactions over services, and long-running preemptible action execution pipelines.
-
DDS Transport & Quality of Service (QoS): Configurable QoS parameters (Reliability, Durability, History Depth, Deadlines) matching network constraints across lossy wireless links, discovery storms, and domain isolation via ROS_DOMAIN_ID.
-
Latency Modeling & High-Performance Execution: Multi-stage node dataflow pipelines (T_total = sum C_i + sum D_i), intra-process zero-copy communication via component containers and iceoryx, and memory locking (mlockall) under PREEMPT_RT Linux.
-
Coordinate Frame Transforms & Security: Time-buffered spatial frame tracking in SE(3) using the TF2 library, and enterprise security hardening via SROS 2 (X.509 PKI certificates, TLS/DTLS payload encryption, and signed XML permissions).
Pedagogical Assets
-
12 fully worked numerical engineering problems with complete mathematical derivations and step-by-step solutions.
-
Dedicated engineering challenges analysis addressing DDS multicast storms, image payload copy bottlenecks, executor callback starvation, and industrial network security.
-
Interactive conceptual quick reviews and self-assessment checkpoints.
-
Standardized cross-platform layout designed for university coursework adoption and offline reference.
Target Audience & Level Designed for upper-division undergraduate engineering courses (Computer Science, Robotics, Autonomous Systems, and Software Engineering), advanced university-preparatory STEM programs, and autonomous systems software engineers.
