Connext Conference 2021

Capture the Prize

Stan Schneider, CEO, RTI

The advent of AI is the most epic transition of our time. However, AI today is restricted to the cloud. Connecting algorithms to real-world systems will let AI step out of the cloud, providing more autonomous operation.  And that will change everything.  

This critical change cannot happen without visionary companies willing to step boldly into that future. You, our customers, are leading the transition to intelligent real-world systems.

Like previous computing transitions, autonomy also cannot happen without a unifying architecture and a preeminent software company to deliver it. This talk by RTI’s CEO will open a window into RTI’s mission to enable a new generation of intelligent distributed systems. With you, we boldly seek to transform entire industries.

We are the world’s number one software framework for autonomy. Our goal is to dominate the coming transition to autonomy across industries, an ambition we call “The Prize.” This talk will explain how we will capture The Prize by providing exactly the technology, service, and trust you need to succeed.

Communication Networking for the DARPA SubT Challenge

Ryan Darnley, Engineer II, Carnegie Mellon University

The DARPA Subterranean (SubT) Challenge was a three-year robotics competition where teams from around the world attempted to create robotic platforms which could explore, map, and investigate degraded and unknown underground environments. The challenge was specifically comprised of three different subterranean environments including tunnels, caves, and urban underground. Among the many challenges of this competition, one key pillar for success was the creation of a communication’s network which could accommodate network traffic between robots and outside base station operators.

As the communication lead for Carnegie Mellon University’s Team Explorer, I produced the software and hardware infrastructure needed to create a deployable wireless mesh network capable of connecting all robot and operator endpoints. One of the key software infrastructure components was the network middleware, Connext DDS. Abstracting away lower levels of the OSI model, the RTPS protocol allowed all robots and base station computers to publish and subscribe to topics of interest in a manner similar to our ROS code. This modularity was essential for creating a communication network capable of handling up to 12 users (both robots and base stations) in asynchronous intervals.

Advancements in Clinical Technology Through Data Driven Healthcare

Richmund Fries, VP Technology, DocBox, Inc.

Clinicians are increasingly relying on timely data to make and evaluate healthcare decisions. DocBox, a clinician-centric and vendor-neutral technology, facilitates data-driven healthcare by automating data collection and management from disparate systems and devices. The universal growing desire and need for more reliable telemedicine and telehealth solutions has led to complications in data management, patient safety, cybersecurity, and more. The RTI Connext DDS has enabled DocBox to develop solutions for complex data problems and has led to real-time advancements in telehealth management.

Connext Tools: Easing Development Lifecycle from Design to Production

Ken Brophy, Principal Applications Engineer, RTI

RTI Connext Tools are critical for distributed and autonomous system developers, whether you are just starting out with Connext or building DDS applications for a while. Connext Tools ease the entire development lifecycle from design to production. 

We will demonstrate tools which help author data types and QoS policies, generate code, and record test data. Additionally, we will show how these tools can help develop Connext DDS Micro applications that integrate with other Connext products such as Recording & Replay Services that can elevate quality testing of mission-critical systems. 

Come to this session and hear about the latest updates for RTI Connext Tools followed by demos of Admin Console, the essential tool for visualizing and troubleshooting your Connext application, and System Designer, for use in jumpstarting your Connext application development.

Experts Panel - Getting serious about cybersecurity in the age of connectivity

Moderated by Bob Leigh, Senior Market Development Director, Autonomous Systems, RTI

Creating a secure cyber-physical system remains an ongoing challenge for those developing increasingly connected, distributed systems. Global hackers are tapping into seemingly secure systems, triggering intelligence exposure, dangerous system malfunctions and ransomware attacks.  In the past, isolation has been the main security defense, yet this is no longer possible with today’s increasingly connected, autonomous applications.

It is imperative that we improve security by approaching it in new ways, starting with protecting the data throughout the entire attack surface. Today's state of the art is all about system resilience. 

A common approach to securing data starts with securely storing the data, then using a dedicated, secure pipe to exchange information within the security domain of that system. In a highly distributed network, this dedicated pipe is a very brittle design that is both difficult to scale and very expensive and time consuming to add new sources of data. Now, it’s time to change the data pipeline to enable the necessary security, scalability and flexibility for connected, autonomous systems. 

Join RTI security and industry experts in an interactive panel that explores how to isolate and secure individual data components in multi-domain networks while maintaining connectivity and data flow for the healthy parts of the system. Learn how to apply data-centric security to your system in all phases of development, in order to protect your system from modern threats.   

Network - Fun Activity

Technical Vision: Edge Autonomy at a Global Scale 24/7

Gerardo Pardo-Castellote, CTO, RTI

Edge Autonomy is one of the most important computing trends of our time. In 2018, Gartner predicted it will account for 75% of the Enterprise Data generated and processed by 2025.

Edge Autonomy offers the (only) way to deliver real-time response in autonomous applications that must interact in the real-world (e.g., autonomous vehicles) and also meet the robustness, scalability, security, and privacy requirements inherent in many operational systems. Paraphrasing a user describing the system they built with Connext:

This system has to run 24/7. It can not fail. The system has to be built so that once it is turned on, …, we never turn it off. It has to keep running, even if there are failures. It has to keep running even if parts of it are disconnected… we have to build resilience… keep operating… and eventually reconcile to a safe consistent state.

In the past Edge Autonomy applications operated as “isolated islands”. New applications, however, are often connected in a global network extending to data-center and cloud. This presentation covers trends and the future technologies we are adding to the RTI Connext Platform to address:

• 24/7 Robustness
• Global Scalability, Performance, and Security
• Productivity via Tools & Integrations

RTI Routing Service: Opening the Way to Remote Piloting and Supervised Subsea Autonomy

Jac Stofberg, Principal Software Engineer, Schilling Robotics

As a leader in deepwater robotics, Schilling Robotics, a division of TechnipFMC, has been pushing the boundary of what is possible underwater for over 35 years. We continue to revolutionize deepwater productivity by advancing our underwater work systems from teleoperated robots to supervised autonomous systems. But we do not accomplish this on our own. The RTI Connext software framework has played an integral part in our success. And as we now head down the exciting path toward supervised subsea autonomy with remote piloting, RTI is once again enabling our vision for the future.
Please join me for a deep dive into how the RTI Routing Service allowed us to integrate systems that are geographically dispersed over a low bandwidth, high latency satellite link. We will look at how the Routing Service allowed us to send and receive data securely across DDS domains and afforded us the ability to transform and filter that data along the way, to maintain critically important system behaviors despite the stringent network constraints and the inherent challenges of rapidly scaling a system to accomplish something it was not originally designed to do.

Complexity of the Modern Automotive Architecture. Pains and Gains of the Industry

David Fidalgo, Founder& CEO @ Y-Mobility / VP & Founder @ AEVAC – Spanish AV Vehicle Association

Autonomy and electrification increase the complexity of the vehicle electrical architecture. The increase of sensors, AI functionality, and connectivity required to operate these vehicles prescribe a new approach to vehicle architecture. David Fidalgo will review the complexity of the architecture and the pains and gains of the industry, where is the current status of vehicle architecture and the vision for the future.

Got Questions? Ask The Experts!

Moderator: Jim Jones, Director of Customer Success, RTI

If you have questions or would like more information on anything presented at ConnextCon, this is the session for you! Moderated by RTI’s Professional Services team, the panel -- made up of RTI conference speakers -- will address questions raised during conference sessions as well as live questions from the audience.