Automating the Object-Oriented Software Development Process: Workshop Report

Cost-effective realization of robust, adaptable and reusable software systems demands efficient and effective management of the overall software production process. Current object-oriented methods are not completely formalized and lack the ability of reasoning about the quality of processes and software products (artifacts). There is a need for new modeling formalisms, which enable the quantification of the required quality attributes and support the automation of the object-oriented development process (AOOSD). The ECOOP'98 AOOSD workshop was organized to identify the important issues in this direction

A measurement system for large, complex software programs

This paper describes measurement systems required to forecast, measure, and control activities for large, complex software development and support programs. Initial software cost and quality analysis provides the foundation for meaningful management decisions as a project evolves. In modeling the cost and quality of software systems, the relationship between the functionality, quality, cost, and schedule of the product must be considered. This explicit relationship is dictated by the criticality of the software being developed. This balance between cost and quality is a viable software engineering trade-off throughout the life cycle. Therefore, the ability to accurately estimate the cost and quality of software systems is essential to providing reliable software on time and within budget. Software cost models relate the product error rate to the percent of the project labor that is required for independent verification and validation. The criticality of the software determines which cost model is used to estimate the labor required to develop the software. Software quality models yield an expected error discovery rate based on the software size, criticality, software development environment, and the level of competence of the project and developers with respect to the processes being employed

Model based code generation for distributed embedded systems

Embedded systems are becoming increasingly complex and more distributed. Cost and quality requirements necessitate reuse of the functional software components for multiple deployment architectures. An important step is the allocation of software components to hardware. During this process the differences between the hardware and application software architectures must be reconciled. In this paper we discuss an architecture driven approach involving model-based techniques to resolve these differences and integrate hardware and software components. The system architecture serves as the underpinning based on which distributed real-time components can be generated. Generation of various embedded system architectures using the same functional architecture is discussed. The approach leverages the following technologies – IME (Integrated Modeling Environment), the SAE AADL (Architecture Analysis and Design Language), and Ocarina. The approach is illustrated using the electronic throttle control system as a case study

Software Engineering Metrics for COTS-Based Systems

The paradigm shift to commercial off-the-shelf components appears inevitable, necessitating drastic changes to current software development and business practices. Quality and risk concerns currently limit the application of COTS based system design to noncritical applications. New approaches to quality and risk management will be needed to handle the growth of CBSs. Our metrics based approach and software engineering metrics can aid developers and managers in analyzing the return on investment in quality improvement initiatives for CBSs. These metrics also facilitate the modeling of cost and quality, although we need more complex models to capture the intricate relationships between cost and quality metrics in a CBS

Using Attack Path Formalisation Analysis in Software Design Stage Threat Modelling Method

This research proposes a comprehensive method for threat modeling in the software design stage, incorporating attack path formalization analysis. The approach involves extracting software defect information through UML active graph decomposition of the application or system and performing threat modeling. The method comprises several steps, including creating and modeling use cases, generating an application/system silhouette, decomposing the application/system using the active graph, constructing a threat tree with key asset information as the threat object, classifying and evaluating the threat object, and calculating the attack path of the threat tree. By comparing it with existing approaches, this invention aims to enhance software product safety, improve software quality, broaden the application range of threat modeling, and achieve automation in threat modeling, resulting in reduced technical threshold, cost, and development time for trusted software development

Structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry as alternative to laser scanning for 3D modelling of historical monuments

During the past few years, new developments have occurred in the field of 3D photogrammetric modeling of culture heritage. One of these developments is the expansion of 3D photogrammetric modeling open-source software, such as VisualSfM, and cost-effective licensed software, such as Agisoft Metashape into the practical and affordable world. This type of SfM (Structure from Motion) software offers the world of 3D modelling of culture heritage a powerful tool for documentation and visualization. On the other hand, low-cost cameras are now available on the market. These cameras are characterized by high resolution and good quality lens, which makes them suitable for photogrammetric modelling. This paper reports on the results of the application of a SfM photogrammetry system in the 3D modelling of Safita Tower, a medieval structure in Safita, north-western Syria. The applied photogrammetric system consists of the Nikon Coolpix P100 10 MP digital camera and the commercial software Agisoft Metashape. The resulted 3D point clouds were compared with an available dense point cloud acquired by a laser scanner. This comparison proved that the low-cost SfM photogrammetry is an accurate methodology to 3D modeling historical monuments.

Automatic Generation of Model-Input Validators

Modeling tools can take designs in their restricted modeling language with aim of transforming such designs into a more low-level forms, originally more cumbersome and error prone to specify manually; i.e. modeling tools provide a reprieve against tedium, and error prone tasks. In such scenarios it is not quite clear what maybe the restriction on the input specification for the given tool that will not cause the generated output to be in an error state; such restrictions are not clear at the outset against the ensemble of modifications required to be made on the high-level specification. In this paper we have proposed an automatic technique for model input validator generation based upon the compiler theory of PST and graph applications. This work is expected to be of use in various domains of design automation in fields like electronics, medicinal software, and other mission critical software applications, to improve quality of modeling tool and secure the design space exploration. Overall our work shows how to improve quality of existing modeling software tools at a limited cost

FIRST ASSESSMENTS ON HERITAGE SCIENCE ORIENTED IMAGE-BASED MODELING USING LOW-COST MODIFIED AND MOBILE CAMERAS

Three-dimensional modeling of cultural heritage, especially concerning large scale studies, as for example, archaeometry, diagnostics and conservation intervention applications, which usually require high-resolution and multi-spectral analyses, necessitates the use of complicate and often expensive equipment. Recent developments regarding low-cost commercially available spectrally modified digital reflex cameras, smartphones with good quality image sensors, mobile thermal cameras in combination with automated or semi-automated photogrammetric software implementing Structure from Motion (SfM) and Multiview Stereo (MVS) algorithms constitute some cheaper and simpler alternatives. Although, the results of the integration of these types of sensors and techniques are often not evaluated as metric products. The presented research combines the above-mentioned instrumentation and software to implement and evaluate low-cost 3D modeling solutions on heritage science-oriented case studies, but also to perform some first assessments on the resulting models' metric properties, quality of texture and usefulness for further scientific investigations

Application of BIM in sustainability analysis

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the process of generating and managing building data during its life cycle. Typically it uses three-dimensional, real-time, dynamic building modeling software to increase productivity in building design and construction. The process produces the Building Information Model, which encompasses building geometry, spatial relationships, geographic information, quantities and properties of building components. On the other hand, Green Building Index (GBI) as the localized sustainability building rating system in Malaysia assesses the impact of building on environment based on energy efficiency, indoor environment quality, sustainable site & management, materials & resources, water efficiency and innovation. By integrating GBI assessment criteria with BIM technology, this research proposes a comparative case study analysis of Residential New Construction (RNC) and Non-Residential New Construction (NRNC) based on the Autodesk Ecotect Analysis software (a comprehensive, concept-to-detail sustainable design analysis tool that provides a wide range of simulation and analysis functionality through desktop and web-service platforms) and Autodesk Green Building Studio (A web-based energy analysis service which performs whole building analysis, optimizes energy efficiency, and works toward carbon neutrality earlier in the design process) to investigate the influence of construction material on energy consumption, lifecycle energy cost and carbon emission