08-21-2007: The slides presented at the 116th Telemetry Group Conference in Dayton, OH are available here.

IHAL Overview

The Instrumentation Hardware Abstract Language (IHAL), developed by KBSI as part of the ISAIIH project, is used to specify instrumentation network and hardware configurations as well as to act as a command and query language that provides a more elegant and robust means for specifying, simulating, managing, querying, and controlling T&E instrumentation networks and systems.  On a larger scale, such a language can be used in diverse telemetry, instrumentation, and remote sensing areas such as process control, sensor networks relating to homeland security, and mission-critical applications in space, aeronautics, healthcare, and manufacturing.

IHAL is designed on the principle that the same language must serve three roles:  (1) as a descriptive language for specifying and describing the components and configuration of an instrumentation system, (2) as a command language for issuing configuration and data commands to instrumentation hardware, and (3) as a query language for requesting the current state of instrumentation hardware.  In this sense, IHAL must serve as a specification language such as LISP and as a procedural language such as C.