A Toolkit for the Analysis of Models of Real-Time Embedded Software

随着实时嵌入式系统的数量、规模和复杂性的增加，它们运行的软件的开发成本已经成为包括汽车、电信、航空电子和医疗在内的许多领域的关注点。政府和监管机构要求采用更严格的验证、核实和认证技术的压力越来越大，进一步加剧了这一问题。 由于强调抽象和自动化，基于模型的开发技术和工具，例如，统一建模语言（UML），具有被证明的潜力，允许高质量的复杂嵌入式软件的高效，有效的开发，并越来越多地在工业中采用。 然而，目前的最新技术水平对模型的分析提供了不足的支持，即，用于自动检查，允许开发人员在设计早期检测模型中的缺陷。例如，对于电信行业中使用的基于UML的模型，现有工具提供的分析能力是不完整的，无法适应特定领域，公司，团体或用户的需求;在学术界调查的模型级分析往往也在这方面有所欠缺。 受GrammaTech CodeSonar和Coverity Code Advisor等现代源代码分析工具包的成功启发，拟议研究的长期目标是开发一个开放的，可定制的分析基础设施和工具包，用于实时嵌入式系统的基于UML的工业模型;更具体地说，该工具包将由一个应用程序接口（API）组成，该接口包含数据结构、例程、指南，和实施这些模型的广泛的工业相关分析所需的例子。 为了实现这一目标，我们将利用（1）在我们过去关于UML的形式语义和验证的工作中收集的背景和知识，（2）我们与基于模型的开发技术的工业用户的行业联系，以及（3）对基于模型的开发的开源工具的兴趣和可用性的增加，特别是PolarSys Eclipse行业工作组的创建。更准确地说，我们将首先进行两个关于模型级分析的案例研究;这些案例研究将与行业合作进行（例如，爱立信加拿大），以确保相关性。然后，对分析工具包所需功能和要求的深入了解将用于设计和实施工具包。在最后一步，将对工具包进行评估和完善。 拟议的研究将推进基于模型的软件开发的基础和工业应用的最新技术。此外，它将为几名学生（5名博士，3名硕士和5名理学士）提供他们成为抢手的毕业生所需的知识和技能，并为加拿大工业做出宝贵的贡献。

With the number, size and complexity of real-time embedded systems increasing, the development costs for the software they run have become a concern in many domains including automotive, telecom, avionics, and medical. Growing pressure by governments and regulatory bodies to adopt more rigorous validation, verification, and certification techniques further exacerbates the problem.  With their emphasis on abstraction and automation, model-based development techniques and tools, based on, e.g., the Unified Modeling Language (UML), have the proven potential to allow for the efficient, effective development of high-quality complex embedded software and are increasingly adopted in industry.   However, the current state-of-the-art provides insufficient support for the analysis of models, i.e., for automated checks allowing developers to detect flaws in the model early in the design. For instance, for UML-based models as used in parts of the telecom industry, analysis capabilities offered by existing tools are incomplete and unable to adapt to the needs of specific domains, companies, groups, or users; model-level analyses investigated in academia often also fall short in this respect. Inspired by the success of modern analysis toolkits for source code such as GrammaTech CodeSonar and Coverity Code Advisor the long-term goal of the proposed research is the development of an open, customizable analysis infrastructure and toolkit for industrial UML-based models of real-time embedded systems; more concretely, the toolkit would consist of an Application Programmer Interface (API) containing the data structures, routines, guidelines, and examples necessary for the implementation of a wide range of industrially relevant analyses of these models. To achieve this goal, we will leverage (1) the background and knowledge collected during our past work on the formal semantics and verification of UML, (2) our industry connections to industrial users of model-based development techniques, and (3) the increasing interest in and availability of open source tools for model-based development in general, and the creation of the PolarSys Eclipse Industry Working Group in particular. More precisely, we will first conduct two case studies on model-level analysis; these case studies will be carried out in collaboration with industry (e.g., Ericsson Canada) to ensure relevance. Then, the insights gained on the required features and requirements for the analysis toolkit will be used to design and implement the toolkit. In the final step, the toolkit will be evaluated and refined. The proposed research will advance the state-of-the-art in the foundations and industrial use of model-based software development. Moreover, it will give several students (5 PhD, 3MSc, and 5 BSc students) the knowledge and skills they need to become sought-after graduates and make valuable contributions to Canadian industry.