Enhancing the ESIM (Embedded Systems Improving Method) by Combining Information Flow Diagram with Analysis Matrix for Efficient Analysis of Unexpected Obstacles in Embedded Software

In order to improve the quality of embedded software, this paper proposes an enhancement to the ESIM (Embedded Systems Improving Method) by combining an IFD (Information Flow Diagram) with an Analysis Matrix to analyze unexpected obstacles in the software. These obstacles are difficult to predict in the software specification. Recently, embedded systems have become larger and more complicated. Theoretically therefore, the development cycle of these systems should be longer. On the contrary, in practice the cycle has been shortened. This trend in industry has resulted in the oversight of unexpected obstacles, and consequently affected the quality of embedded software. In order to prevent the oversight of unexpected obstacles, we have already proposed two methods for requirements analysis: the ESIM using an Analysis Matrix and a method that uses an IFD. In order to improve the efficiency of unexpected obstacle analysis at reasonable cost, we now enhance the ESIM by combining an IFD with an Analysis Matrix. The enhancement is studied from the following three viewpoints. First, a conceptual model comprising both the Analysis Matrix and IFD is defined. Then, a requirements analysis procedure is proposed, that uses both the Analysis Matrix and IFD, and assigns each specific role to either an expert or non-expert engineer. Finally, to confirm the effectiveness of this enhancement, we carry out a description experiment using an IFD.14th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (APSEC\u2707), 4-7 Dec. 2007, Aichi, Japa

Autonomous power system brassboard

The Autonomous Power System (APS) brassboard is a 20 kHz power distribution system which has been developed at NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio. The brassboard exists to provide a realistic hardware platform capable of testing artificially intelligent (AI) software. The brassboard's power circuit topology is based upon a Power Distribution Control Unit (PDCU), which is a subset of an advanced development 20 kHz electrical power system (EPS) testbed, originally designed for Space Station Freedom (SSF). The APS program is designed to demonstrate the application of intelligent software as a fault detection, isolation, and recovery methodology for space power systems. This report discusses both the hardware and software elements used to construct the present configuration of the brassboard. The brassboard power components are described. These include the solid-state switches (herein referred to as switchgear), transformers, sources, and loads. Closely linked to this power portion of the brassboard is the first level of embedded control. Hardware used to implement this control and its associated software is discussed. An Ada software program, developed by Lewis Research Center's Space Station Freedom Directorate for their 20 kHz testbed, is used to control the brassboard's switchgear, as well as monitor key brassboard parameters through sensors located within these switches. The Ada code is downloaded from a PC/AT, and is resident within the 8086 microprocessor-based embedded controllers. The PC/AT is also used for smart terminal emulation, capable of controlling the switchgear as well as displaying data from them. Intelligent control is provided through use of a T1 Explorer and the Autonomous Power Expert (APEX) LISP software. Real-time load scheduling is implemented through use of a 'C' program-based scheduling engine. The methods of communication between these computers and the brassboard are explored. In order to evaluate the features of both the brassboard hardware and intelligent controlling software, fault circuits have been developed and integrated as part of the brassboard. A description of these fault circuits and their function is included. The brassboard has become an extremely useful test facility, promoting artificial intelligence (AI) applications for power distribution systems. However, there are elements of the brassboard which could be enhanced, thus improving system performance. Modifications and enhancements to improve the brassboard's operation are discussed

CAN and debugger interface with Python

Nowadays, Python is one of the most popular programming languages and it is becoming little by little the favorite one for many people. On this project, we will describe its advantages on an important sector, test automation for embedded systems. The automotive market has a lot of challenges which add complexity to the development of any product and OEM’s are demanding not only more features to their product but also, they want those features fulfilled within a short period of time due to the high competition and customer demands. To keep up the pace, the automation process must be improved, so with more features and updates added to the product, more tests and verifications are needed. Even though visual inspection is always necessary, the need for test automation in embedded system is now a priority to conclude faster verification steps in the development path of the product, improving efficiency and effectiveness avoiding and pointing out human mistakes that no matter what they will be always present. Python is now supported in many tools for communication (for CAN and LIN protocols) and debugging in embedded systems, therefore, combined with their general programming language advantages it can be quite important and useful in the tool-set of any software engineer

Advances in Streamlining Software Delivery on the Web and its Relations to Embedded Systems

Software delivery has evolved notably over the years, starting from plan-driven methodologies and lately moving to principles and practises shaped by Agile and Lean ideologies. The emphasis has moved from thoroughly documenting software requirements to a more people-oriented approach of building software in collaboration with users and experimenting with different approaches. Customers are directly integrated into the process. Users cannot always identify software needs before interacting with actual implementations. Building software is not only about building products in the right way, but also about building the right products. Developers need to experiment with different approaches, directly and indirectly. Not only do users value practical software, but the development process must also emphasise on the quality of the product or service. Development processes have formed to support these ideologies. To enable a short feedback-cycle, features are deployed often to production. A software is primarily delivered through a pipeline consisting of tree stages: development, staging and production. Developers develop features by writing code, verify these by writing related tests, interact and test software in a production-like 'staging' environment, and finally deploy features to production. Many practises have formed to support this deployment pipeline, notably Continuous Integration, Deployment and Experimentation. These practises focus on improving the flow of how software is being developed, tested, deployed and experimented with. The Internet has provided a thriving environment for using new practises. Due to the distributed nature of the web, features can be deployed without the need of any interaction from users. Users might not even notice the change. Obviously, there are other environments where many of these practises are much harder to achieve. Embedded systems, which have a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electrical system, require hardware to accompany the software. Related processes and environments have their limitations. Hardware development can only be iterative to a certain degree. Producing hardware takes up front design and time. Experimentation is more expensive. Many stringent contexts require processes with assurances and transparency - usually provided by documentation and long-testing phases. In this thesis, I explore how advances in streamlining software delivery on the web has influenced the development of embedded systems. I conducted six interviews with people working on embedded systems, to get their view and incite discussion about the development of embedded systems. Though many concerns and obstacles are presented, the field is struggling with the same issues that Agile and Lean development are trying to resolve. Plan-driven approaches are still used, but distinct features of iterative development can be observed. On the leading edge, organisations are actively working on streamlining software and hardware delivery for embedded systems. Many of the advances are based on how Agile and Lean development are being used for user-focused software, particularly on the web

Decoupling User Interface Design Using Libraries of Reusable Components

The integration of electronic and mechanical hardware, software and interaction design presents a challenging design space for researchers developing physical user interfaces and interactive artifacts. Currently in the academic research community, physical user interfaces and interactive artifacts are predominantly designed and prototyped either as one-off instances from the ground up, or using functionally rich hardware toolkits and prototyping systems. During this prototyping phase, undertaking an integral design of the interface or interactive artifact’s electronic hardware is frequently constraining due to the tight couplings between the different design realms and the typical need for iterations as the design matures. Several current toolkit designs have consequently embraced component-sharing and component-swapping modular designs with a view to extending flexibility and improving researcher freedom by disentangling and softening the cause-effect couplings. Encouraged by early successes of these toolkits, this research work strives to further enhance these freedoms by pursuing an alternative style and dimension of hardware modularity. Another motivation is our goal to facilitate the design and development of certain classes of interfaces and interactive artifacts for which current electronic design approaches are argued to be restrictively constraining (e.g., relating to scale and complexity). Unfortunately, this goal of a new platform architecture is met with conceptual and technical challenges on the embedded system networking front. In response, this research investigates and extends a growing field of multi-module distributed embedded systems. We identify and characterize a sub-class of these systems, calling them embedded aggregates. We then outline and develop a framework for realizing the embedded aggregate class of systems. Toward this end, this thesis examines several architectures, topologies and communication protocols, making the case for and substantial steps toward the development of a suite of networking protocols and control algorithms to support embedded aggregates. We define a set of protocols, mechanisms and communication packets that collectively form the underlying framework for the aggregates. Following the aggregates design, we develop blades and tiles to support user interface researchers

Smart sensor technology for joint test assembly flights.

The world relies on sensors to perform a variety of tasks from the mundane to sophisticated. Currently, processors associated with these sensors are sufficient only to handle rudimentary logic tasks. Though multiple sensors are often present in such devices, there is insufficient processing power for situational understanding. Until recently, no processors that met the electrical power constraints for embedded systems were powerful enough to perform sophisticated computations. Sandia performs many expensive tests using sensor arrays. Improving the efficacy, reliability and information content resulting from these sensor arrays is of critical importance. With the advent of powerful commodity processors for embedded use, a new opportunity to do just that has presented itself. This report describes work completed under Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Project 26514, Task 1. The goal of the project was to demonstrate the feasibility of using embedded processors to increase the amount of useable information derived from sensor arrays while improving the believability of the data. The focus was on a system of importance to Sandia: Joint Test Assemblies for ICBM warheads. Topics discussed include: (1) two electromechanical systems to provide data, (2) sensors used to monitor those systems, (3) the processors that provide decision-making capability and data manipulation, (4) the use of artificial intelligence and other decision-making software, and (5) a computer model for the training of artificial intelligence software

Integrated Design and Implementation of Embedded Control Systems with Scilab

Embedded systems are playing an increasingly important role in control engineering. Despite their popularity, embedded systems are generally subject to resource constraints and it is therefore difficult to build complex control systems on embedded platforms. Traditionally, the design and implementation of control systems are often separated, which causes the development of embedded control systems to be highly time-consuming and costly. To address these problems, this paper presents a low-cost, reusable, reconfigurable platform that enables integrated design and implementation of embedded control systems. To minimize the cost, free and open source software packages such as Linux and Scilab are used. Scilab is ported to the embedded ARM-Linux system. The drivers for interfacing Scilab with several communication protocols including serial, Ethernet, and Modbus are developed. Experiments are conducted to test the developed embedded platform. The use of Scilab enables implementation of complex control algorithms on embedded platforms. With the developed platform, it is possible to perform all phases of the development cycle of embedded control systems in a unified environment, thus facilitating the reduction of development time and cost.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures; Open Access at http://www.mdpi.org/sensors/papers/s8095501.pd

Improving regression testing transparency and efficiency with history-based prioritization – an industrial case study

Abstract—Background: History based regression testing was proposed as a basis for automating regression test selection, for the purpose of improving transparency and test efficiency, at the function test level in a large scale software development organization. Aim: The study aims at investigating the current manual regression testing process as well as adopting, implementing and evaluating the effect of the proposed method. Method: A case study was launched including: identification of important factors for prioritization and selection of test cases, implementation of the method, and a quantitative and qualitative evaluation. Results: 10 different factors, of which two are history-based, are identified as important for selection. Most of the information needed is available in the test management and error reporting systems while some is embedded in the process. Transparency is increased through a semi-automated method. Our quantitative evaluation indicates a possibility to improve efficiency, while the qualitative evaluation supports the general principles of history-based testing but suggests changes in implementation details

An Adaptive Design Methodology for Reduction of Product Development Risk

Embedded systems interaction with environment inherently complicates understanding of requirements and their correct implementation. However, product uncertainty is highest during early stages of development. Design verification is an essential step in the development of any system, especially for Embedded System. This paper introduces a novel adaptive design methodology, which incorporates step-wise prototyping and verification. With each adaptive step product-realization level is enhanced while decreasing the level of product uncertainty, thereby reducing the overall costs. The back-bone of this frame-work is the development of Domain Specific Operational (DOP) Model and the associated Verification Instrumentation for Test and Evaluation, developed based on the DOP model. Together they generate functionally valid test-sequence for carrying out prototype evaluation. With the help of a case study 'Multimode Detection Subsystem' the application of this method is sketched. The design methodologies can be compared by defining and computing a generic performance criterion like Average design-cycle Risk. For the case study, by computing Average design-cycle Risk, it is shown that the adaptive method reduces the product development risk for a small increase in the total design cycle time.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure