Model-Driven Development of RTOS-Based Embedded Software

Abstract

There is a growing interest in the model-driven software development as a viable solution to the increasing complexity of embedded software. An important characteristic of a model-driven approach is that it allows a developer to focus on high-level models rather than low-level details, thereby raising the level of abstraction at which a developer can work. Therefore, the model-driven approach can provide a significant productivity gain and improved maintainability. One of the most noticeable approaches is the OMG’s MDA (Model-Driven Architecture), which is a de facto standard. Unfortunately, MDA provides little support for the development of RTOS-based embedded software since it focuses primarily on middleware target platforms such as EJB, Web Services, .NET, and CORBA. In this paper, we present a model-driven approach to RTOS-based embedded software development and an automated tool that can produce RTOS-specific code. Our contributions are two fold. First, we propose generic RTOS APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that can capture most of typical RTOS services that can be used as a means for describing application’s RTOS-related behavior at an early design stage. We then present a transformation tool that can generate fully functional code by transforming generic RTOS APIs into RTOS-specific APIs. Our tool, called TransPI, is able to produce ’C’ code for POSIX-compliant RTOSs, and is also configurable to target other RTOSs that do not conform to the POSIX standard.

This work was supported in part by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (MOEHRD) KRF-2005-041-D00625 and by IT Leading R&D Support Project funded the Ministry of Information and Communication.