Scientific publications

During the last three years, we have been experimenting with the use of the Uppaal model checker in an introductory course on operating systems for first-year Computer Science students at the Radboud University Nijmegen. The course uses model checkers as a tool to explain, visualize and solve concurrency problems.

This chapter argues that embedded systems design faces several challenges of which late integration and the difference in development productivity between disciplines are major ones. Model driven engineeringMDE) looks a promising approach to address these challenges. However, MDE is a new approach which has to be defined and implemented in close interaction by academia and industry the near future.

The growing complexity and size of systems and the organizations that create these systems trigger the need for instruments that facilitate the creation of these systems. We shortly analyze these trends and the (potential) role of reference architectures as facilitating means. After a short discussion about the content of Reference Architectures and their relation with system architectures, system design and actual systems, we zoom in on the question what the appropriate level of detail is for Reference Architectures.

We describe an approach to support UML-based development of embedded systems by formal techniques. A subset of UML is extended with timing annotations and given a formal semantics. UML models are translated, via XMI, to the input format of formal tools, to allow timed and non-timed model checking and interactive theorem proving.

The way in which a system's software archive is partitioned influences the evolvability of that system. The partition of a software archive, e.g. subsystem decomposition, is mostly assessed by looking at the static (include, call) relations between the parts. In the literature history information is also taken into account to assess the partition.

Nowadays, designers resort to abstraction techniques to conquer the complexity of industrial embedded systems during the design process. However, due to the large semantic gap between the abstractions and the implementation, the designers often fails to apply the abstraction techniques. In this paper, an EIS-based (executable interface specification) approach is proposed for the embedded system design.

A system functions as part of a broader enterprise. For the design of a system understanding is required of its purpose within the enterprise, as well as of its internal functioning. Models are a means to create and capture understanding. Many different models are needed during the design of a system, from broad enterprise models down to detailed implementation models of components or functions.