The use of Ada language in the telecommunications industry

In this article, Fabien Chouteau from AdaCore, explains the importance of secure software in the emerging telecommunications industry.

Ada is a state-of-the-art programming language development teams use worldwide for critical software. It is unique among languages in that it helps detect and eliminate bugs early in the software life cycle when they are the least expensive to correct. Ada helps to build reliable, safe and secure software without sacrificing performance.

The history of Ada

Ada was initially developed in the early 1980s (this version is generally known as Ada 83) by a team led by Dr. Jean Ichbiah at CII-Honeywell-Bull in France. The language was revised and enhanced in an upward compatible fashion in the early 1990s under the leadership of Mr. Tucker Taft from Intermetrics in the US. The resulting language, Ada 95, was the first internationally standardized (ISO) Object-Oriented Language. Under the auspices of ISO, a further (minor) revision known as Ada 2005 was completed as an amendment to the standard. The next version of the language standard was Ada 2012, which introduced full support for contract-based programming (including subprogram pre- and postconditions), among other features. The most recent version of Ada is 2022, and this made some improvements in usability and readability.

The name “Ada” is not an acronym; it was chosen in honor of Augusta Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), a mathematician regarded as the world’s first programmer because of her work with Charles Babbage. She was also the daughter of the poet Lord Byron.

Precision in Telecoms

The importance of Quality of Service in public and private 5G, WifiX, and Satellite networks has identified a specific need for specialized network tools to measure precise latency. This precision is essential for the functionality of applications.

LatenceTech, a Canadian telecom startup, specializes in high-precision network latency tools for 5G and IoT. They had a challenge to refine quantitative latency metrics into practical strategies to enhance Quality of Service (QoS) and clients’ satisfaction with network performance. They used GNAT Pro for Ada to create stable and resource-efficient network tools, successfully meeting real-time telecom demands.

There are several reasons why Ada is a suitable programming language for this type of project. The ability to compile Ada code into small, rapid executables with GNAT Pro is perfect. The language’s explicit coding style improves readability and collaborative development. It streamlines data manipulation by allowing direct naming and arrangement of record fields, eliminating the bit-shifting required in other languages. Ada also provides synchronization while maintaining the performance benefits of native compilation.

As we look towards a future where digital connectivity is ever more critical, Ada stands out as a robust tool that can drive innovation while ensuring the high integrity of telecommunications software. The continued evolution and application of Ada in such fields promise to advance technological capabilities and uphold the highest standards of software excellence. This positions Ada as an essential asset in the toolkit of developers aiming to shape the future of telecommunications.

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Tags: Ada, AdaCore, language, software