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要执行给定的功能，而且要实时执行，消耗有限的能量，等等。今天的工具并不能充分帮助嵌入式计算机的程序员设计出在功能、性能和功耗等所有方面都能正常工作的程序。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；这种方法耗时太长。因此，许多嵌入式程序没有得到充分的分析和测试。这个项目正在开发嵌入式系统设计的新方法，使用程序和它们运行的计算机的模型来创建程序的连续更精确的版本。之前的研究开发了简单的模型。本工作的前提是需要多个层次的建模来设计高效、正确的嵌入式软件。在早期阶段，不太精确的模型对于有效地探索设计空间是必要的。随着设计的进行，需要更详细的模型。作为这项研究计划的一部分，pi正在开发将在万维网上分发的教材。材料讨论了基于模型的计算，模型的特征，以及通过模型层次的软件合成。pi还在Web上分发开发的工具，以及在项目过程中收集的设计示例和基准。

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.