Realising play-in and smart play-out approach
The ever growing popularity of embedded software has led researchers to explore new means of working with these increasingly complex, multi-platform and distributed systems. At the same time, automation in software development is highly required in order for the European industry to stay competitive in the worldwide marketplace. For this reason, validation from the early phases of development becomes a prerequisite for producing high quality software at competitive costs. Motivated by this, the OMEGA project developed suitable methodology and tools for the development of real-time and embedded systems using Unified Modelling Language (UML). One of these tools is the Play-Engine tool that has been based on the play-in/play-out approach. This advanced tool technology allows specification and execution of behavioural requirement of complex reactive systems. Exploitation of the language of Live Sequence Charts (LSCs) allows definition of the scenarios. Following the play-in/play-out approach, requirements are easily captured by playing them in with the aid of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that offers powerful and direct execution. Moreover, on the grounds of verification methods an extension of this approach, the so-called smart play-out, offers direct execution of the scenarios. At the same time, it provides means for analysis of the scenarios in terms of consistency and satisfaction of provided behavioural properties. For the purposes of the OMEGA project, the robust Play-Engine tool has already been applied in three case studies. One of these is a flight control mechanism that realises "sensors voting and monitoring" operations in a standard flight control system designed by the Israeli Aircraft Industry (IAI). Another one includes the Medium Altitude Reconnaissance System (MARS) system, which counteracts the image quality degradation caused by an aircraft's forward motion developed by the National Research Laboratory (NLR) in Netherlands. A third application involves the Depannage telecomm service built on top of embedded platform and service components realised by France Telecom R&D (FTRD). The Play-Engine tool is currently a research prototype tool developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science. For further information click at: http://www-omega.imag.fr/index.php(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)
