Abstract

Today computing is becoming ubiquitous in our world. That requires timely service for better quality of service and accurate computation. In order to provide correct and timely service, real-time technology is at the center of computing systems. Many computing technologies such as operating systems, database systems and middleware architectures are being developed with real-time aspects. Real-time computing systems are getting more attention in our lives today. They collaborate with each other on a large scale through networks, so they must be able to trust each other to ensure the information is correct and valid. As a result, security services and dependable systems are inevitable. In a real-time distributed computing environment, security is crucial to protect the system from unauthorized access, especially since these systems are being used in critical applications. Access Control mechanisms have been introduced during the last several decades and offer a basic and powerful means for enforcing security. In this thesis, we examine the concepts of a Time Triggered Message Triggered Object (TMO) scheme that provides guaranteed real-time services in a distributed object computing environment. We also examine access control mechanisms; such as the traditional model, the Role-based Access Control (RBAC) model and the Usage Control (UCON) model. Then we describe the application of sophisticated RBAC and UCON models for a TMO scheme and subsequently design an application that utilizes a Coordinated Anti-Missile Interceptor Network (CAMIN) system. This application is a secure CAMIN based upon a secure TMO that applies a Real Time UCON (RT-UCON) in the CAMIN environment. The main contribution of this thesis is applying the traditional, RBAC and UCON models to the TMO scheme in order to provide a secure real-time distributed environment.