# TickTalk -- Timing API for Dynamically Federated Cyber-Physical Systems

## TL;DR

TickTalk introduces a comprehensive framework for integrating timing and synchronization directly into programming languages and system architectures for cyber-physical systems, enabling dynamic, power-efficient, and coordinated operation.

## Contribution

The paper develops a multi-level approach combining language constructs, a flexible intermediate language, network architecture extensions, and device-level concepts for timing in CPS.

## Key findings

- Proposes language constructs for timing and synchronization.
- Designs an intermediate language representing logic and timing.
- Suggests network and device architectural extensions for better timing control.

## Abstract

Although timing and synchronization of a dynamically-changing set of elements and their related power considerations are essential to many cyber-physical systems (CPS), they are absent from today's programming languages, forcing programmers to handle these matters outside of the language and on a case-by-case basis. This paper proposes a framework for adding time-related concepts to languages. Complementing prior work in this area, this paper develops the notion of dynamically federated islands of variable-precision synchronization and coordinated entities through synergistic activities at the language, system, network, and device levels. At the language level, we explore constructs that capture key timing and synchronization concepts and, at the system level, we propose a flexible intermediate language that represents both program logic and timing constraints together with run-time mechanisms. At the network level, we argue for architectural extensions that permit the network to act as a combined computing, communication, storage, and synchronization platform and at the device level, we explore architectural concepts that can lead to greater interoperability, easy establishment of timing constraints, and more power-efficient designs.