RTI

Real-Time Innovations (RTI) is the largest software framework company for autonomous systems, providing a real-time communications platform for the Internet of Things. RTI has over 1,800 designs, and the company's software runs over 250 autonomous vehicle programs. RTI Connext, the company's flagship product, is an architecture for developing intelligent distributed systems. It shares data directly, connecting AI algorithms to real-time networks of devices to build autonomous systems. Founded in 1991, RTI is privately held and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with regional offices in Colorado, Spain, and Singapore.

RTI customers include medical, energy, mining, air traffic control, trading, automotive, unmanned systems, industrial SCADA, naval systems, air and missile defense, ground stations, and science. The total value of system designs utilizing RTI for their fundamental architecture exceeds $1 trillion. RTI is committed to open standards, open community source, and open architecture. RTI is a vendor of products compliant with the Object Management Group (OMG) Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard.

RTI employs over 100 development, research, services, and field engineers worldwide, with a concentrated development team located in its Spanish office. In addition to product engineering, RTI maintains an active research program with eleven active government-funded projects totaling approximately $6 million. RTI collaborates with national labs, large and small companies, and academia. The company regularly publishes papers and supports speaking events around the world.

RTI was founded in 1991 by robotics researchers from Stanford University, including Stan Schneider, CEO of the company. Schneider holds a PhD from Stanford in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a focus on autonomous systems. Before RTI, Schneider managed a large Stanford robotics laboratory, led an embedded communications software team, and built data acquisition systems for automotive impact testing.

RTI's first product, ScopeTools, was a debugging and visualization tool for distributed real-time systems. By 1995, RTI had a strong consulting business with a focus on Wind River Systems VxWorks and ScopeTools had achieved widespread adoption through the Wind River sales force. The same year, RTI entered the middleware market with NDDS (former name of RTI Connext). In 1998, RTI was named “16th Fastest-Growing Company in Silicon Valley” by SV Business Journal.

In the early- and mid-2000s, DDS became standardized. It was adopted by the US Navy in 2003, the first of more than 300 programs and projects to standardize using DDS. Around this time, RTI chaired OMG standards efforts for DDS. In 2005, long-standing partner Wind River Systems acquired the ScopeTools product line, and RTI shifted focus to DDS middleware. OMG adopted an RTI-contributed DDS wire specification as a standard and RTI was elected to an OMG board seat. 2009 saw RTI expand, signing thirteen distributors worldwide and launching a professional edition of its comprehensive tools, middleware, and integration technologies.

In 2010, RTI Connext reached 300,000 deployments, and the following year, RTI reached 70 percent of the DDS market. In 2012, RTI established the Spain Development Center (SDC) in Granada, Spain, rebranded, and moved to a larger headquarters. The company also launched the RTI Connext DDS product suite.

2014 saw:

• The release of Connext DDS 5.1, with over sixty new features and support for over twenty new platforms
• RTI join over ninety industry-leading companies to form the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), Industry IoT Consortium, with the goal of accelerating the development of connected industrial applications. RTI CEO, Stan Schneider, was elected to the IIC steering committee
• The launch of RTI Connext DDS Secure, the world’s first standards-compliant, off-the-shelf connectivity software for deployment of the Industrial IoT
• RTI Connext DDS selected by GE Healthcare as the Industrial Internet transport for medical systems, standardizing a common databus across product lines
• The European Space Agency (ESA) build an advanced telerobotics development platform using RTI Connext DD and performs the first-ever robotics experiment with force-feedback in space
• The U.S. Army, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, and RTI announce FACE framework to enable the government to build interoperable, more cost-effective avionics systems.
• RTI hold its first Connext DDS users group, Connext Conference 2014, in London
• RTI named the “Most Influential Industrial IoT Company” in an independent market study published by Forbes magazine.

In 2015, RTI provided communications software and engineering support to the Government of Canada’s Land Command Support System (LCSS), collaborated with IIC on a smart grid testbed, and delivered a complete certification data package for DO-178C avionics safety standard. The company won Department of Energy funding to research smart grid security leveraging the DDS standard in 2016 and continued collaborating with the IIC on a new connected care testbed and co-authoring the IIC Industrial Internet Security Framework (IISF).

In 2017, RTI released Connext DDS 5.3, introduced RTI Labs, expanded to Connext Conference events in Munich and Silicon Valley, and joined AUTOSAR as a development partner. The same year saw GE Transporation implement RTI Connext DDS in its connected rail enterprise. During IoTSWC 2018 in Barcelona, RTI announced connectivity software for highly autonomous vehicles.

During 2019, RTI:

• Announced the first medical-grade connectivity framework at HIMSS 2019
• Was elected to leadership roles in the new DDS Foundation launched by the Object Management Group (OMG)
• Released Connext 6 to customers
• Was awarded a $1.5M U.S. Government contract to standardize DoD cybersecurity technology
• Partnered with Abaco and Wind River to deliver COTS DO-254 and DO-178C solutions for airborne Systems
• Was awarded $2M in Government contracts to advance DoD capabilities in modeling and simulation systems
• Unveiled Connext Drive connectivity solution for autonomous vehicle development
• Announced that Aptiv selected Connext DDS as a secure tool for transferring data within its self-driving vehicles

2020 saw RTI announce new autonomous vehicle partners Baidu, Moovita, and Voyage, and RTI join the Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC). In 2021 RTI:

• Introduced RTI Academy
• Announced a framework for widely distributed autonomous systems
• Was selected by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) as the connectivity Software for the OPAL application framework
• Received an Epic MegaGrant from Epic Games to support real-time data connectivity for Unreal Engine
• Joins the VR/AR association to advance integrations with Leading Gaming Engines
• Partnered with Bachmann to deliver DDS-based industrial automation solutions for autonomous shipping
• Was awarded a $1M U.S. DoD research contract to explore 5G-NextG enhancements for real-time communications

In June 2022, RTI announced Connext Drive 2.0. On July 7th, 2022, RTI was awarded a $950 million ceiling U.S. Air Force contract to support Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2). The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract is for the maturation, demonstration, and proliferation of capabilities across platforms and domains. The contract leverages open systems design, modern software, and algorithm development to enable Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2). It is part of a multiple award multi-level security effort to provide the development and operation of systems as a unified force across all domains (air, land, sea, space, cyber, and electromagnetic spectrum) in an open architecture family of systems that enables capabilities via multiple integrated platforms. Chip Downing, Senior Market Development Director, Aerospace & Defense at RTI said about the contract:

RTI is proud to be named an industry partner for this US Air Force Advanced Battlefield Management Systems (ABMS) initiative and have the opportunity to contribute to the Pentagon’s efforts towards achieving JADC2. RTI Connext provides a proven, open-standard-based, software connectivity framework that is ideal for supporting the Air Force in revitalizing their part of the integrated JADC2 Joint Force network. With our powerful security products and commercial RTCA DO-178C certification evidence for airborne systems, RTI is positioned to accelerate ABMS concepts into production systems.

RTI's Connext product suite provides a software connectivity framework designed for intelligent distributed systems based on the DDS standard to share real-time information and work as a single integrated system. DDS is an open standard for messaging from OMG.RTI offers a suite of products and services for various applications:

• Connext Drive—autonomous vehicle development
• Connext Anywhere—widely distributed systems
• Connext Professional—complex systems development
• Connext Secure—performance with fine-grained security
• Connext Micro—resource-constrained applications
• Connext Cert—safety-certified systems
• RTI Connext Infrastructure services
• RTI Connext Tools—to accelerate system development
• RTI Labs—early access to experimental software
• RTI Professional Services—support throughout the project lifecycle

Connext is designed for critical systems with stringent uptime requirements, high-speed response, or the coordination of complex team-written software. It provides software libraries, a suite of tools for development and monitoring, and infrastructure services. Connext integrates with various third-party applications (including LabVIEW, Simulink, UML/SysML, and Wireshark), operating systems, and toolchains. It also supports over 100 platforms and twelve transports.

Example of a layered databus architecture using Connext to enable modularity.

RTI offers a thirty-day, fully-functional free trial of Connext. The company's pricing options include commercial, research, academic, and open-source licenses. Commercial license pricing is based on the number of developers using Connext. The distribution of applications that use RTI core products is royalty-free. RTI offers universities a free one-year renewable license of Connext Secure for academic, non-commercial use such as use in research labs or classroom projects. It also has special license programs for qualified research and non-commercial use.

Connext Professional is catered to architects and developers looking to build open and scalable real-world systems. Connext Professional has over 70 percent of the DDS market share. Released in May 2021, Connext 6.1 included updates to Connext Professional 6.1 with geographically-distributed systems connectivity, expanded platform support, improved bandwidth efficiency, intuitive views of distributed applications, faster Configuration of Connext Applications, and built-in network capture.

Connext Source is for autonomous systems with significant security requirements, such as those in medical, energy, transportation, and defense industries. Connext Secure utilizes RTI Security Plugins, which support the OMG DDS Security specification. Security features include the following:

• Protection against unauthorized access, tampering, and replay
• Pluggable design to protect applications with minimal changes
• Authentication, authorization, confidentiality, and integrity
• Operation without centralized servers
• Connects across WAN and LAN environments with Real-Time WAN Transport

Connext Anywhere is developed for widely-distributed teleoperation applications. Connext Anywhere provides a modular architectural foundation for systems needing real-time communication over mobile, wide area, and public networks. Connext Anywhere features include the following:

• Network-agnostic DDS-compliant APIs
• Real-time WAN transport
• Cloud discovery service

Connext Cert offers safety-certifiable connectivity software for mission-critical real-world systems. Connext Cert complies with the stringent certification requirements and is available with reusable certification evidence to streamline certification. The connectivity framework is certifiable to Design Assurance Level (DAL) A, the highest level of the DO-178C standard. Its reusability also provides a certification baseline for other industry-specific functional safety standards including IEC 61508 (industrial), IEC 60601/IEC 62304 (medical devices), and ISO 26262 (automotive).

Designed for automakers, Connext Drive meets the industry’s safety, security, and performance requirements. It is TÜV SÜD-certified to ASIL D, meeting the safety lifecycle requirements defined by ISO 26262.

Connext Micro is connectivity software designed for resource-constrained applications. It offers a smaller footprint connectivity framework for autonomous systems with minimal memory and CPU power, that may not have an operating system.

RTI Connext Infrastructure Services help developers rapidly scale and integrate real-time, distributed systems. These systems could be based on DDS and non-DDS applications. The following Infrastructure Services are included in the Connext product suite:

• Cloud discovery service—deploys RTI Connext applications in dynamic environments
• Persistence services—saves DDS data samples
• Queueing service—enables point-to-point messaging
• Recording service—captures and replays DDS data to and from permanent storage
• Routing service—helps developers scale and integrate real-time systems
• Web integration service—standards-based interface between web-based services and unmodified DDS applications

RTI infrastructure services

RTI offers a range of Connext Tools for distributed and autonomous system developers:

• Admin console—for monitoring and troubleshooting Connext DDS infrastructure services
• Code generator—creates the code needed to define and register a user data type
• DDS spy—debugging tool
• LabView toolkit—RTI plugin for LabView
• Launcher—tracking Connext tools
• Micro application generator—code generator for Connext micro-based applications
• Monitor—troubleshoots DDS-enabled applications
• Shapes demo—learning tool
• Systems designer—graphical design tool for controlling Connext systems
• Wireshark—RTI plugin for Wireshark

RTI Connext Tools

RTI Labs is a free program that provides early access to new technology including software projects, downloads, and tools. Each RTI Labs project provides a user with the following:

• A software download
• Project description explaining what the project is, which platforms it's available on, languages, compatibility, etc.
• Supporting content with links to relevant content including documentation, examples, posts on the RTI Community Forum, and tutorials
• The current status of the project, including insight into future plans and notifications of any updates

RTI has a professional services team to work with RTI customers on their Connext projects. This includes on-site or remote services to provide training, analysis, recommendations, and hands-on code changes.

RTI academy is an on-demand, virtual learning platform providing RTI customers flexible access to Connext product training. It contains a library of content, providing customers with extensive information related to the Connext product suite. The course catalog includes the following options:

• Connext developer training
• Fundamentals of RTI Connext
• Writing a Connext chat application using the modern C++ API
• Writing a Connext chat application using Connector and Python
• Understanding connext secure
• Understanding connext micro
• Connext 6.1 product update

RTI Xcelerators are training and mentoring services designed to help customers accelerate success and achieve a targeted result with RTI technology. Xcelerators are short, scalable, and focused. RTI offers overy thirty-five Xcelerator courses.

RTI offers four levels of support plans:

• Basic—remote support for one developer (phone, email, and web support) and access for each licensed project developer to the basic courses in RTI Academy
• Essential—more extensive support for system design or troubleshooting. In addition to the benefits of the basic plan, the essential support plan also provides live training and access to the RTI Xcelerators catalog
• Essential academy plus—same as the essential plan except with access to the premium RTI Academy content catalog
• Premium—includes all of the benefits of Essential support, plus six to eighteen additional days of RTI Xcelerators. With the premium support plan, each licensed project developer has access to all of the basic, essential, and premium courses in RTI Academy

All plans include on-demand access to a library of documentation, case + code use case examples, how-to videos, the RTI community site, and other materials to supplement these support and training services.

Overview of RTI tiered support plans.

RTI software is in use for hundreds of aerospace and defense system designs, providing standards-compliant connectivity. RTI aerospace and defense system customers include the following:

• The U.S. Army
• Raytheon
• BAE Systems
• General Atomics
• Lockheed Martin
• The U.S. Navy

Over fifty automotive customers are building autonomous vehicles using RTI’s software framework. RTI is working with industry-standards organizations, such as AUTOSAR and ROS, to build automotive frameworks and platforms on top of the DDS standard. RTI Automotive customers include the following:

• Audi
• Peng
• Aptiv
• Inceptio

RTI Connext is used in the energy industry to help integrate smart technologies. Deployments include large-scale hydropower dams and small microgrids, and RTI Connext helps utility automation applications.

RTI provides the connectivity software frameworks for medical devices. Applications include those below:

• Medical robotics
• Connected healthcare
• Medical imaging

RTI is utilized within the transportation industry to help the evolution of new systems including smart highways, air traffic control, and high-speed rail. RTI transportation customers include those listed:

• ESA
• GE Transportation
• Virgin Hyperloop