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| ObjecTime | |
|---|---|
| Name | ObjecTime |
| Developer | ObjecTime Limited; later Rational Software |
| Released | 1990s |
| Programming language | C++; Ada; domain-specific languages |
| Operating system | Solaris; Windows; Unix |
| Genre | Real-time modeling tools; CASE tools; executable specification |
| License | Proprietary; later commercial |
ObjecTime
ObjecTime was a commercial real-time modeling and CASE tool suite developed in the 1990s by ObjecTime Limited and later acquired by Rational Software. It provided an integrated environment for designing, simulating, and generating code from real-time systems using statechart-based modeling, a domain-specific language, and toolchains aimed at embedded engineering and telecoms. The product influenced later modeling standards and tool ecosystems adopted in avionics, automotive, and telecommunications engineering.
ObjecTime combined executable modeling, code generation, and formal semantics to support development of embedded and real-time systems. It targeted industries engaged with Bell Labs, Siemens, Nokia, Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent and provided features for statechart design, scheduling analysis, and cross-compilation for platforms such as Sun Microsystems Solaris and early Microsoft Windows. The suite interfaced with third-party compilers and hardware vendors including Wind River Systems, Green Hills Software, IntelliNet Technologies and alignments with standards from organizations like IEEE and OMG.
ObjecTime Limited was founded in the early 1990s by engineers with backgrounds in real-time systems and formal methods, launching products that implemented variants of statecharts influenced by work at Bell Labs and the University of California, Berkeley. The company grew through partnerships and contracts with telecommunications incumbents such as Siemens and Nokia, and later became a target for acquisition amid consolidation in the software tools market. In the late 1990s ObjecTime was acquired by Rational Software, which itself was acquired by IBM; elements of the ObjecTime toolset and modeling semantics were incorporated into subsequent Rational products used in collaborations with General Motors, Lockheed Martin, Airbus, and Thales. Academic groups at institutions such as MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Cambridge, and ETH Zurich cited ObjecTime in research on model-driven engineering and formal verification.
The ObjecTime suite comprised a graphical model editor, a simulation and debugging environment, a code generator, and runtime libraries for target processors. Its editor allowed designers to place hierarchical statecharts, events, and timing constructs, producing executable models that interfaced with C or Ada application code compiled by vendors like GNU toolchains or ARM compilers. Runtime components ran on embedded OSs such as VxWorks, QNX, and proprietary RTOSs used by Siemens and Motorola platforms. Integration adapters enabled connections with version control systems like RCS and CVS, and with requirements tools from suppliers used by BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman.
ObjecTime implemented a statechart-based modeling language with precise execution semantics, incorporating hierarchies, concurrency, timed transitions, and event broadcasting inspired by David Harel’s statecharts and influenced by formal methods from Hoare and process calculi studied at University of Oxford. The language supported synchronous and asynchronous communication patterns, timed actions, and priorities for resolving race conditions, enabling mapping to scheduling theory used by researchers at University of York and Imperial College London. Semantics were designed for determinacy and analyzability, facilitating model checking efforts related to tools from Cadence Design Systems and academic prototypes from MIT and Stanford University.
ObjecTime provided integrations with development ecosystems used by telecom and aerospace firms: connectors for Rational’s own suite, adapters to Visual Studio for host-side development, and import/export facilities for formats used in AUTOSAR-adjacent workflows and safety certification processes observed in DO-178B contexts. Debugging supported breakpoints, trace export, and hardware-in-the-loop testing with vendors such as National Instruments and Tektronix. Build automation could be driven via scripting compatible with Make and platform build systems used by Sun Microsystems engineering teams.
Practitioners used ObjecTime to develop protocol stacks, control systems, and embedded applications in domains including telecommunications switching (projects at Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson), automotive subsystems (integrations with Bosch and Continental AG toolchains), avionics controllers (programs for Boeing and Airbus suppliers), and industrial automation (deployments with ABB and Siemens automation groups). Use cases emphasized rapid prototyping of stateful controllers, formalization of timing requirements for certification to standards referenced by EUROCAE and RTCA, and model-based handover to implementation teams using compilers from Green Hills Software and Wind River Systems.
Critics noted ObjecTime’s proprietary format and steep learning curve compared to open academic tools from Eclipse Foundation projects or research prototypes from INRIA and University of California, Berkeley. Interoperability challenges arose when integrating with emerging standards promoted by OMG such as UML and later SysML, where mappings between statechart dialects were imperfect. Performance and scalability limits were reported for very large models in projects at Nortel Networks and Siemens, and licensing costs, acquisition-related portfolio shifts by Rational and IBM, and migration burdens prompted some organizations to transition to alternative toolchains provided by MathWorks, SCADE from ANSYS/Esterel Technologies, or open-source ecosystems fostered by Eclipse.
Category:Software