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Synthesis and exploration of multi-level, multi-perspective architectures of automotive embedded systems

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Abstract

In industry, evaluating candidate architectures for automotive embedded systems is routinely done during the design process. Today’s engineers, however, are limited in the number of candidates that they are able to evaluate in order to find the optimal architectures. This limitation results from the difficulty in defining the candidates as it is a mostly manual process. In this work, we propose a way to synthesize multi-level, multi-perspective candidate architectures and to explore them across the different layers and perspectives. Using a reference model similar to the EAST-ADL domain model but with a focus on early design, we explore the candidate architectures for two case studies: an automotive power window system and the central door locking system. Further, we provide a comprehensive set of question templates, based on the different layers and perspectives, that engineers can ask to synthesize only the candidates relevant to their task at hand. Finally, using the modeling language Clafer, which is supported by automated backend reasoners, we show that it is possible to synthesize and explore optimal candidate architectures for two highly configurable automotive sub-systems.

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Notes

  1. Quality attributes are sometimes referred to as non-functional properties.

  2. We use italics to introduce a reference model component.

  3. We use typeface to denote Emily’s model elements; a concrete component.

  4. Throughout this paper if the word Clafer begins with an uppercase letter it describes the language, whereas a lowercase one denotes the language construct.

  5. We use bold typeface to refer to a clafer in a listing.

  6. https://github.com/gsdlab/chocosolver.

  7. As of this writing, we are using Choco version 3.

  8. https://github.com/gsdlab/ClaferCaseStudies/.

  9. https://github.com/gsdlab/ClaferCaseStudies/tree/master/OtherTools.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Jordan A. Ross, Alexandr Murashkin, Jia Hui Liang, Michał Antkiewicz & Krzysztof Czarnecki

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  1. Jordan A. Ross
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  2. Alexandr Murashkin
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  3. Jia Hui Liang
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  4. Michał Antkiewicz
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  5. Krzysztof Czarnecki
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Correspondence to Jordan A. Ross.

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Communicated by Prof. Hong Mei.

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Ross, J.A., Murashkin, A., Liang, J.H. et al. Synthesis and exploration of multi-level, multi-perspective architectures of automotive embedded systems. Softw Syst Model 18, 739–767 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-017-0592-y

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