Collaborative Research: CSR-EHS: A Hierarchy of Models for Embedded Software

嵌入式计算系统无处不在，它们控制着大量重要的基础设施：通信、医疗、公用事业等。嵌入式计算系统的设计不仅必须执行给定的功能，而且必须实时执行，消耗有限的功率等。目前的工具不足以帮助嵌入式计算机的程序员设计在所有这些意义上正确工作的程序：功能、性能和功耗。今天，许多程序员必须简单地编写程序并在嵌入式计算机或模拟器上运行；这种方法太耗时了。因此，许多嵌入式程序没有得到充分的分析和测试。该项目正在开发嵌入式系统设计的新方法，这些方法使用程序及其运行的计算机的模型来创建程序的连续更准确的版本。之前的研究已经开发出简单的模型。这项工作的前提是需要几个层次的建模来设计高效和正确的嵌入式软件。在早期阶段，为了有效地探索设计空间，需要精确度较低的模型。随着设计的进展，需要更详细的模型。作为这一研究项目的一部分，私人投资机构正在开发将在万维网上分发的教材。这些材料讨论了基于模型的计算、模型的特征，以及通过模型层次结构进行的软件综合。PI还在网络上分发在该项目过程中开发的工具以及收集的设计范例和基准。

Embedded computing systems are everywhere and they control a great deal of importantinfrastructure: communication, medical, utilities, etc. Embedded computing systems must be designed not just to perform a given function but to do it in real time, consume limited amounts of power, etc. Today's tools don't adequately help the programmers of embedded computers to design programs that work properly in all these senses: function, performance, and power consumption. Today, many programmers must simply write a program and run it on the embedded computer or a simulator; this approach takes too much time. As a result, many embedded programs aren't adequately analyzed and tested. This project is developing new methods for embedded system design that use models of both the programs and the computers they run on to create successively more accurate versions of the program. Previous research has developed simple models. The premise of the work is that several levels of modeling are required to design efficient and correct embedded software. In the early stages, less-accurate models are necessary to efficiently explore the design space. As design progresses, more detailed models are required. As part of this research project, the PIs are developing teaching materials to be distributed over the World Wide Web. The materials discuss model-based computing, the characteristics of models, and software synthesis through a hierarchy of models. The PIs also distribute over the Web the tools developed and design examples and benchmarks collected during the course of this project.