A Model-Driven Technique for Development of Embedded Systems Based on the DEVS Formalism

Summary

The development of embedded systems with real-time constraints has received the thorough study of the software engineering community in the last 20 years. Despite these efforts, most existing methods are still hard to scale up for large systems, or they require expensive testing efforts. We propose a model-driven method to develop this kind of application based on DEVS, a formal technique originally created for modeling and simulation of discrete-event systems. This approach combines the advantages of a simulation-based approach with the rigor of a formal methodology. We will explain how to use this framework to incrementally develop embedded applications, and to seamlessly integrate simulation models with hardware components. The use of this methodology shortens the development cycle and reduces its cost, improving quality and reliability of the final product. Our approach does not impose any order in the deployment of the actual hardware components, providing flexibility to the overall process. The use of DEVS improves reliability (in terms of logical correctness and timing), enables model reuse, and permits reducing development and testing times for the overall process.