cyclonedds
A high-performance, robust open-source implementation of the OMG DDS specification for real-time distributed systems.
What is cyclonedds?
Eclipse Cyclone DDS is an open-source implementation of the OMG Data Distribution Service (DDS) specification, providing a publish-subscribe middleware for building real-time, distributed systems. It solves the problem of high-throughput, low-latency communication in environments like robotics, aerospace, and industrial automation, where reliability and performance are critical.
Developers and engineers building real-time distributed systems, particularly in robotics (e.g., ROS 2), autonomous vehicles, aerospace, defense, and industrial IoT applications.
Developers choose Cyclone DDS for its robust performance, full standards compliance, and lack of a central broker, which eliminates single points of failure. Its support for QoS policies, security, and multi-language bindings makes it a versatile choice for demanding, scalable systems.
Overview
Eclipse Cyclone DDS project
Use Cases
Best For
- Building real-time control systems for robotics and autonomous vehicles
- Implementing high-throughput sensor data distribution in industrial IoT
- Developing low-latency communication for aerospace and defense applications
- Creating distributed systems with strict reliability and QoS requirements
- Integrating multiple DDS implementations in interoperable networks
- Deploying secure, encrypted publish-subscribe messaging in sensitive environments
Not Ideal For
- Projects needing simple, broker-based messaging like MQTT for IoT without real-time constraints
- Teams with limited expertise in DDS specifications who prefer more accessible middleware
- Applications where minimal network overhead is critical and features like topic discovery are unnecessary
- Environments with stringent resource constraints where the full DDS feature set adds unwanted complexity
Pros & Cons
Pros
Implements key OMG specifications like DCPS, Security, and XTypes, ensuring interoperability and type safety across distributed systems, as highlighted in the README's coverage list.
Delivers reliable throughput over 1MS/s for small samples and low microsecond-level latency, optimized for real-time control systems, with performance graphs and data provided in the README.
Automatically discovers peers without a central broker, eliminating single points of failure and simplifying deployment in distributed environments, as noted in the feature list.
Offers configurable settings for reliability, deadlines, and liveliness monitoring, allowing fine-grained control to meet diverse system requirements, per the README's QoS description.
Cons
The README admits documentation is limited and slowly improving, with parts only available in text files, making it harder for new users to get started without trial and error.
Requires CMake, optional dependencies like OpenSSL and Iceoryx, and has numerous build flags (e.g., for security or discovery), adding setup overhead compared to lighter middleware.
Features like topic discovery are disabled by default due to significant network overhead, meaning users must manually enable them, which can be non-intuitive for basic use cases.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
ProtoBufProtocol Buffers - Google's data interchange format
Fast-RTPSThe most complete DDS - Proven: Plenty of success cases. Looking for commercial support? Contact info@eprosima.com
iceoryxEclipse iceoryx™ - true zero-copy inter-process-communication
rosbridge_suiteServer Implementations of the rosbridge v2 Protocol
Found a gem we're missing?
Open-Awesome is built by the community, for the community. Submit a project, suggest an awesome list, or help improve the catalog on GitHub.