Towards a model-driven engineering approach for developing embedded hard real-time software

Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) has been advocated as an effective way to deal with today's software complexity. MDE can be seen as an integrative approach combining existing techniques such as Domain-Specific Modeling Languages (DSML) and Transformation Engines. This paper presents the ezRealtime, an MDE-based tool that relies on the Time Petri Net (TPN) formalism and defines a DSML to provide an easy-to-use environment for specifying Embedded Hard Real-Time (EHRT) systems and for synthesizing timely and predictable scheduled C code. The ezRealtime adopts the universal XML-based transfer syntax for Petri nets, named as PNML. The main idea of this work is to propose a generative programming method and tool to boost code quality and improve developer productivity with automated software synthesis. The ezRealtime tool reads and automatically translates the specification to a time Petri net model through composition of building blocks with the purpose of providing a complete model of...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: SAC
• Authors: Fabiano Cruz, Raimundo S. Barreto, Lucas Cordeiro
• Keywords: Applied Computing, Hard Real-time, Model-driven Engineering, Petri Nets, SAC 2008