A Critical Embedded System Product Line Model-based Approach

Journal of Computer Science, 2015

This paper presents two UML 2.0 profiles for designing embedded software based on Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS). The first profile, named Application Modeling Profile (AMP), defines the necessary elements for the application modeling. The second one, named swxRTOS, defines a set of stereotypes to describe platform models and the mapping between application and platform. These profiles are used for the development of Application and Platform separately from the model transformations in the context of the Model Driven Engineering (MDE) approach.

Embedded systems shape our world nowadays. It’s almost impossible to imagine our day to day life without it. Examples can include cell phones, home appliances, energy generators, satellites, automotive components …etc. it is even far more complex if there are real-time and interface constraints. Developing real-time embedded systems is significantly challenging to developers. Results need not be only correct, but also in a timely manner. New software development approaches are needed due to the complexity of functional and non-functional requirements of embedded systems. Due to the complex context of embedded systems, defects can cause life threatening situations. Delays can create huge costs, and insufficient productivity can impact the entire industry. The rapid evolution of software engineering technologies will be a key factor in the successful future development of even more complex embedded systems. Software development is shifting from manual programming, to model-driven engineering (MDE). One of the most important challenges is to manage the increasing complexity of embedded software development, while maintaining the product’s quality, reducing time to market, and reducing development cost. MDE is a promising approach that emerged lately. Instead of directly coding the software using programming languages, developers model software systems using expressive, graphical notations, which provide a higher abstraction level than programming languages. This is called Model Based Development (MBD). Model Based Development if accompanied by Model Based Validation (MBV), will help identify problems early thus reduce rework cost. Applying tests based on the designed models not only enable early detection of defects, but also continuous quality assurance. Testing can start in the first iteration of the development process. As a result of the model based approach, and in addition to the major advantage of early defects detection, several time consuming tasks within the classical software development life cycle will be excluded. For embedded systems development, it’s really important to follow a more time efficient approach.

Proccedings of the …, 2010

This article introduces the MADES Project . MADES is developing new model-driven technologies to improve current practices in the development of embedded systems for the avionics and surveillance embedded systems industries, in particular taking advantage of MARTE [3], the OMG UML profile dedicated to Modelling and Analysis of Real time and Embedded Systems. The project is applying a holistic approach in building new tools and technologies that support design, validation, simulation, and code generation, while providing better support for component reuse. The tools and technologies developed within MADES are driven by requirements from industrial users in the Avionics and Defence domains and will undergo extensive validation through use in the development of new applications for avionics and radar surveillance.

2014 International Conference on Embedded Systems (ICES), 2014

The product line engineering approach is a promising concept to identify and manage reuse in a structured and efficient way and is even applied for the development of safety critical embedded systems. Managing the complexity of variability and addressing functional safety at the same time is challenging and is not yet solved. Variability management is an enabler to both establish traceability and making necessary information visible for safety engineers. We identify a set of requirements for such a method and evaluate existing variability management methods. We apply the most promising method to an industrial case and study its suitability for developing safety critical product family members. This study provides positive feedback on the potential of the model-based method PLUS in supporting the development of functional safety critical embedded systems in product lines. As a result of our analysis we suggest potential improvements for it.

Journal of Systems Architecture, 2018

Software-intensive embedded systems have become an essential aspect of our lives. To cope with its growing complexity, modeling and model-driven engineering (MDE) are widely used for analysis, design, implementation, and testing of these systems. Since a large variety of software modeling practices is used in the domain of embedded software, it is important to understand and characterize thestate-of-the-practices and also the benefits, challenges and consequences of using software modeling approaches in this domain. The goal of this study is to investigate those practices in the embedded software engineering projects by identifying to what degree, why and how software modeling and MDE are used. To achieve this objective, we designed and conducted an online survey. Opinions of 627 practicing embedded software engineers from 27 different countries are included in the survey. The survey results reveal important and interesting findings about the state of software modeling and MDE practices in the worldwide embedded software industry. Among the results: (1) Different modeling approaches (from informal sketches to formalized models) are widely used in the embedded software industry with different needs and all of the usages could be effective depending on the various modeling characteristics; (2) The majority of participants use UML; and the second most frequently selected response is "Sketch/No formal modeling language", which shows the wide-spread informal usage of modeling; (3) In model-driven approaches, it is not so important to have a graphical syntax to represent the model (as in UML) and depending on the type of target embedded industrial sector, modeling stakeholders prefer models, which can represented in a format that is readable by a machine (as in DSL); (4) Sequence diagrams and state-machines are the two most popular diagram types; (5) Top motivations for adopting MDE are: cost savings, achieving shorter development time, reusability and quality improvement. The survey results will shed light on the state of software modeling and MDE practices and provide practical benefits to embedded software professionals (e.g., practitioners, researchers and also educators).

2010

Distributed mechatronic systems integrate sensors, processing units, communication networks, and actuators. In order to achieve a rapid development process and an improved maintainability it is necessary to combine and replace such modular components in a flexible way. For seamless composability we developed communication middleware and a programming abstraction for distributed sensors and actuators. In this paper we describe a comprehensive development toolchain based on these abstractions. Sensors and actuators are specified by an extended electronic datasheet for smart embedded devices. Following this approach, the user defines the capabilities of a device on a high system level in a declarative way. From that description, the functionality is generated using domain-specific tools like Matlab/Simulink. Finally, we improved the back-end tools that provide the code for the target system. Thus this code is derived with minimal user-intervention.

6th International Conference on the Quality of Information and Communications Technology (QUATIC 2007), 2007

Software product lines and related approaches, like software factories, are starting to capture the attention of the industry practitioners. Nevertheless, their adoption outside the research community and big companies is still very restricted. We believe that model-driven approaches, like OMG's MDA, with proper tool support, can bring the advantages of product lines to a broader audience. In this thesis we propose an approach to achieve this goal in which modeling is inspired by UML and automation is based on metamodeling and transformation languages using publicly available tools.

The use of models during the development of embedded systems is nowadays fairly limited. During the evolution of the system, the implementation and the design models often tend to get out of sync. The use of Model Driven Architecture in the development of embedded systems makes this problem more imminent, as it is much more demanding by introducing two separate modeling levels. Thus, there is a need to introduce techniques that overcome this problem. Complete code generation and the use of executable models potentially eliminate the need for a manual implementation that may get out of sync with the design models. We discuss important properties of such approaches and outline the advantages and possibilities of using a UML virtual machine in embedded systems.

2014

Model-Based Engineering (MBE) aims at increasing the e↵ectiveness of engineering by using models as key artifacts in the development process. While empirical studies on the use and the e↵ects of MBE in industry generally exist, there is only little work targeting the embedded systems domain. We contribute to the body of knowledge with a study on the use and the assessment of MBE in that particular domain. Therefore, we collected quantitative data from 112 subjects, mostly professionals working with MBE, with the goal to assess the current State of Practice and the challenges the embedded systems domain is facing. Of the 112 subjects, the majority are experienced with MBE, working at large companies in the automotive, avionics, or healthcare domains. Additionally, mainly OEMs and First-tier suppliers are represented in the study. Our main findings are that MBE is used by a majority of all participants in the embedded systems domain, mainly for simulation, code generation, and documentation. Reported positive e↵ects of MBE are higher quality and improved reusability. Main shortcomings are interoperability di culties between MBE tools, high training e↵ort for developers and usability issues. The data also shows that there are no large di↵erences between subgroups with respect to domains, position in the value chain, company size and product size.

2000

,Although the component-based software engineering is proven to be very successful in enterprise and desktop applications, it encounters some difficulties when applied to development,of embedded,systems. Specific requirements,like execution time, memory footprints, predictability etc., also known as extra-functional system properties, makes it difficult to use available component models for real-time and safety- critical applications. That arouses a need of domain