RTI introduces Connext Observability Framework

The Observability Framework is the first solution of its kind for operational technology systems based on the DDS standard, extending the reliability, security, performance and resilience inherent in RTI Connext. Developers and operators of mission-critical distributed applications such as in-hospital patient monitoring and remote vehicle operation will benefit from increased visibility into the health of deployed systems. 

As growth and innovation in autonomy continue to progress at a rapid pace, system operators are increasingly faced with deployment-time challenges. These applications require high reliability and real-time performance that the underlying network may not always provide. 

Supporting the latest version of the Connext Product Suite, the Observability Framework offers greater visibility into systems’ run-time behavior, allowing potential problems to be identified before they impact the user, and shortening the time required to diagnose and resolve issues when they do occur. This is particularly critical for systems deployed over networks that may be unreliable or have unpredictable bandwidth and latency, such as shared, wireless and public networks. 

The Connext Observability Framework integrates with standard full stack observability components allowing developers to:

• Monitor Connext and non-Connext technologies with the same Observability tools (including Prometheus for metrics storage, Grafana Loki for logs aggregation, and Grafana dashboards for visualisation)
• Monitor the performance and health of the distributed system from a holistic, centralised view
• Reduce system downtime by identifying and localising problems
• Increase the quality and speed of design, development, testing and deployment through enhanced system verification and validation (V&V)
• Scale the observability telemetry pipeline as systems get more complex

“An increasing number of mission-critical applications are integrating autonomous capabilities. As these systems grow in scale and complexity, more data is exchanged leading to more dependence on unpredictable networks,” said David Barnett, Vice President of Product and Markets at RTI. “We created the Connext Observability Framework so developers can have full confidence that their systems are working properly and that they can quickly diagnose and resolve issues when they are not. The new framework delivers the reliability, security and performance that RTI Connext users know and trust. From medical devices to autonomous vehicles, mobile defense systems and beyond, this is another example of RTI leading the charge to the software-defined future.”

Systems that can benefit from the Observability Framework include patient monitoring in a hospital, in which networks may be shared with other applications and bandwidth can vary as patients move; the operation of autonomous vehicles at a mining site; and command, control and communication in mobile defense systems.

The Connext Observability Framework is available with Connext 7.1, the latest release of the Connext Product Suite.