Reuse in safety critical systems: educational use case

The last decades, the electromechanical control systems are being replaced by Programmable Electronic Control Systems. The challenge is that these new systems have to be at least as safe as the replaced ones. Any company that want to compete in the Safety Embedded Systems related market and have success in business, have to develop competent systems reducing the time to market and the cost of the development and certification. The reusability of SW components is one of the solutions in this way. It is clear that the industry needs new graduates with this knowledge. In this paper we are going to explain a use case that the University of Mondragon is developing in order to use it in the Master of Embedded Systems with the objective to transfer the knowledge about how to develop safety critical and certifiable systems in an efficient way

Reuse in Safety Critical Systems: Educational Use Case Final Results

The University of Mondragon, has participated in an European ARTEMIS project called SafeCer during 4 years. The main objective of the project has been to research about the "Reuse of safety related embedded systems and components". Mondragon University has defined an Educational Use Case in order to form the future engineers and has also conducted a first experiment with students of the Master of Embedded Systems. In this paper, the results of this experiment are shown

Runtime Contracts Checker: Increasing Robustness of Component-Based Software Systems

Software Systems are becoming increasingly complex leading to new Validation &Verification challenges. Model checking and testing techniques are used at development time while runtime verification aims to verify that a system satisfies a given property at runtime. This second technique complements the first one. This paper presents a runtime contract checker (RCC) which checks a component-based software system's contracts defined at design phase. We address embedded systems whose software components are designed by Unified Modelling Language-State Machines (UML-SM) and their internal information can be observable in terms of model elements at runtime. Our previous research work, CRESCO (C++ REflective State-Machines based observable software COmponents) framework, generates software components that provide this observability. The checker uses software components' internal status information to check system level safety contracts. The checker detects when a system contract is violated and starts a safeStop process to prevent the hazardous scenario. Thus, the robustness of the system is increased

Increasing dependability in Safety Critical CPSs using Reflective Statecharts

Dependability is crucial in Safety Critical Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). In spite of the research carried out in recent years, implementation and certification of such systems remain costly and time consuming. In this paper, a framework for Statecharts based SW component development is presented. This framework called CRESC (C++ REflective StateCharts), in addition to assisting in transforming a Statechart model to code, uses reflection to make the model available at Run Time. Thus, the SW components can be monitored at Run Time in terms of model elements. Our framework helps the developer separate monitoring from functionality. Any monitoring strategy needed to increase dependability can be added independently from the functional part. The framework was implemented in C++ because this programming language, together with the Statechart formalism constitute widely used choices for the Safety Critical CPS domain

Runtime observable and adaptable UML state machines: [email protected] approach

n embedded system is a self-contained system that incorporateselements of control logic and real-world interaction. UML State Ma-chines constitute a powerful formalism to model the behaviour ofthese types of systems. In current industrial environments, the soft-ware of these embedded systems have to cope with the increasingcomplexity and robustness requirements at runtime. One way tomanage these requirements is having the software component’sbehaviour model available at runtime ([email protected]). Thus,it is possible to enhance the safety of the software component byenabling verification and adaptation at runtime. In this paper, wepresent a model-driven approach to generate software components(namely, RESCO framework), which are able both to provide theirinternal information in model terms at runtime and adapt their be-haviour automatically when an error or an unexpected situation isdetected. The aforementioned runtime introspection and adaptationabilities are added automatically to the software component and itdoes not require the developer make any extra effort. The solutionhas been tested in the design and implementation of an industrialBurner controller. Results indicate that the software components ge-nerated by the presented solution provides introspection at runtime.Thanks to this introspection ability at runtime, the software com-ponents are able to adapt automatically from their normal-modebehaviour to a safe-mode behaviour which was defined to be usedin erroneous or unexpected situations at runtime. Therefore, it ispossible to enhance the safety of the systems consisting of thesesoftware components

Coordinación en PBL integrando múltiples asignaturas: Una experiencia práctica

Problem Based Learning (PBL) se ha referenciado como una de las herramientas más innovadoras en los entornos de aprendizaje hoy en día. En la Universidad de Mondragón usamos el modelo basado en proyectos en los semestres de grado de Ingeniería de Informática como filosofía de aprendizaje multidisciplinar. En el tercer curso del grado el 50% del tiempo de cada semestre se dedica a un proyecto que engloba todas las asignaturas del semestre. En este artículo presentamos nuestra experiencia en la coordinación de las asignaturas de los semestres de tercero de grado de ingeniería informática en un PBL. Esta modelo potencia el auto-aprendizaje, mejora las habilidades transversales de los alumnos, aumenta su satisfacción y permite adquirir conocimientos técnicos de manera adecuada. Sin embargo, también nos hemos encontrado con dificultades al implantarlo ya que no siempre es fácil definir una problemática que requiera trabajar todas las asignaturas del semestre. Por otro lado, la implantación requiere por parte del profesorado un amplio conocimiento técnico ya que su desarrollo es abierto y dirigido por los alumnos.Problem Based Learning (PBL) is considered as one of the most innovative tools in today's learning environments. At the University of Mondragon we use the project-based model in the semesters of computing engineering degree as a philosophy of multidisciplinary learning. In the third year of the degree, 50% of the time of each semester is dedicated to a project that includes all the subjects of the semester. In this article, we present our experience in the coordination of semester subjects in a PBL. This form of learning enhances self-learning, improves students’ transversal skills, increases students’ satisfaction and enables them to acquire technical skills in an appropriate way. However, we have also encountered difficulties in implanting it since it is not always easy to define a problem that requires addressing all the subjects of the semester. On the other hand, the implementation requires the teachers to have more technical knowledge since the topics are open and driven by the students

MDE based IoT Service to enhance the safety of controllers at runtime

One of the challenges for complex IoT software systems is toincrease their safety. A Model Driven Development approach helps in the design and development phase of these systems while runtime checkin gtechniques help to enhance safety. To supervise the status of different IoT services that are registered in a local cloud at runtime, the solution that is presented in this work uses the information that it receives from the different services registered in a local cloud in model terms. The runtime checker, the new Safety related service of the Arrowhead framework, has predefined contracts to ensure the correctness of the services at runtime.Based on these contracts and checking the information that it receives at runtime it is able to detect unsafe scenarios. Once an unsafe scenario is detected, it starts a safe process to protect the behaviour of the whole system adapting the wrong service or services to a degraded operation mode at runtime. All these services will be Arrowhead compliant

Reuse in Safety Critical Systems: Educational Use Case First Experiences

In order to maintain Europe as world leader in development of safety relevant systems one of the keys would be to join together the European industrial, academic and scientific communities. One of the main industrial challenges is that any company that wants to compete in the safety-related embedded systems market and have success in business, have to develop competent systems reducing the time to market and the cost of the development and certification. The reusability of SW components is one of the solutions in this way. The technical aspects are worked out in the ARTEMIS nSafeCer project and industrial, academic and scientific communities are working together generating new methods and tools and applying them in use cases. One of the use cases of the project is an educational one and the University of Mondragon is developing it in order to use it in the Master of Embedded Systems Courses with the objective to transfer the knowledge about how to develop safety critical and certifiable systems in an efficient way

Exekuzio Denboran barne egoera ikusi eta aldatzea ahalbideratzen duten UML Egoera Makinak

In current industrial environments, the software of embedded systems have to cope with the increasing complexity and robustness requirements at runtime. One way to manage these requirements is having the software component’s behaviour model available at runtime ([email protected]). In this paper, we present a model-driven approach to generate software components which are able both to provide their internal information in model terms at runtime and adapt their behaviour automatically when an error or an unexpected situation is detected. Thanks to this introspection ability at runtime, the software components are able to adapt automatically from their normal-mode behaviour to a safe-mode behaviour which was defined to be used in erroneous or unexpected situations at runtime.Egungo ingurune industrialetan, gailu desberdinak kontrolatzen dituzten sistema txertatuen softwareak geroz eta konplexuago, sendoago eta fidagarriago izan beharra dauka. Egoera honi aurre egiteko moduetako bat kontroleko software horren portaera deskribatzen duen eredua, exekuzio denboran eskuragarri egotea da ([email protected]). Artikulu honetan, kontrol sistemak eredu bidez deskribatu ondoren, eredu horietan oinarrituaz software osagaiak modu automatiko batean sortuko dituen plataforma bat aurkeztuko da. Bere balio erantsi nagusia, software osagai hauek exekuzio denboran euren barne informazioa eskaintzeko gaitasuna da, berauek deskribatzeko erabili den eredu lenguaia berbera erabiliaz gainera. Horretaz gain, aurreikusi gabea den edo errore egoera baten aurrean, software osagai hauek eraldatzeko gaitasuna ere izango dute. Eraldatze hau, aurrez definitua izan den portaera seguru batera izango da