OpenSplice
A full implementation of the OMG Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard for real-time data sharing in distributed systems.
What is OpenSplice?
Vortex OpenSplice is an open-source implementation of the OMG Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard, licensed under Apache 2. It provides a data-centric middleware for building scalable, real-time distributed systems, enabling efficient and reliable data sharing between applications with low latency and high throughput. It is designed for mission-critical systems across domains like autonomous vehicles, medical devices, robotics, and IoT.
Developers and engineers building real-time, distributed, data-centric systems in fields such as autonomous vehicles, medical devices, aerospace, air traffic control, and industrial IoT. It is suited for those requiring standards-compliant, interoperable middleware for mission-critical applications.
Developers choose Vortex OpenSplice for its full compliance with the OMG DDS standard, ensuring interoperability, and its robust feature set including multi-language support, CORBA integration, and Protocol Buffers support. It offers a proven, reliable solution for real-time data distribution with a focus on performance and extensibility, though the community edition is now in maintenance with migration encouraged to Cyclone DDS.
Overview
This is the OpenSplice Community Edition source repository. For our commercial offering see
Use Cases
Best For
- Building real-time distributed systems in autonomous vehicles where low-latency, reliable data exchange is critical.
- Developing medical device software that requires secure, high-throughput data sharing between components.
- Creating robotic platforms that need scalable, interoperable middleware for sensor and control data distribution.
- Implementing IoT gateways or network switches that demand efficient data-centric communication across diverse devices.
- Designing air traffic control or aerospace systems with strict reliability and real-time performance requirements.
- Integrating legacy CORBA-based systems with modern DDS applications through optional CORBA collocation support.
Not Ideal For
- New projects prioritizing active development and community support, as OpenSplice is in maintenance mode with migration encouraged to Cyclone DDS.
- Teams using modern Java versions (JDK 9+) or needing seamless Python 3 integration, due to outdated SDK constraints and missing Cython modules.
- Developers seeking a lightweight, easy-to-setup middleware for prototyping, given the complex build process with numerous dependencies and version-specific tools.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Implements the complete OMG DDS specification, ensuring interoperability with other DDS systems for real-time data distribution, as highlighted in the README.
Offers APIs for C, C++, Java, C#, and Python across POSIX/Linux and Windows, accommodating diverse development environments, though some bindings have limitations.
Provides optional collocation support for sharing data types with C++ (TAO) and Java (JacORB) CORBA ORBs, easing integration with existing systems.
Allows data modeling with Google Protocol Buffers for structured serialization, adding flexibility in data type definitions, as noted in the build options.
Cons
The core team has shifted to Cyclone DDS, encouraging migration, which means limited updates, reduced community support, and potential obsolescence for new features.
Building from source requires many dependencies with strict version constraints, such as Java SDK >1.6 <1.9 and optional tools like gSOAP, making setup cumbersome and error-prone.
Python support is hindered by missing Cython modules, and Java is limited to older versions, reducing compatibility with modern development stacks and increasing integration effort.
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
cycloneddsEclipse Cyclone DDS project
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