The Total System Design (TSD) Methodology from Problem Definition to Hardware/Software Requirements

This paper presents an informal description of a methodology called the Total System Design (TSD) Methodology. It consists of two phases that deal with the transformation of a system requirements specification to a processing model (in the architecture design phase) and the subsequent generation of hardware and software requirements (in the binding phase). The proposed design strategy is based primarily on an extension of the concept of abstract machine hierarchies to distributed systems, while the binding strategy could be viewed as a most constrained first policy

The Total System Design (TSD) Framework: An Approach to the Development of Distributed Systems Design Methodologies

A methodological framework is an abstraction over a class of design methodologies. The framework characteristics the problem solving approach shared by the methodologies belonging to that class: it identifies the nature of their common design concerns and the fundamental logical interdependencies between these concerns. The paper proposes a particular framework called the Total System Design (TSD) Framework. It represents a specification for a class of design methodologies which view computer-based systems as potentially distributed hardware/software aggregates. As such, the TSD Framework consolidates under a unified perspective two traditionally separate concerns: software design and hardware design. Furthermore, it establishes the role played by hardware/software trade-offs in system design. A strategy for deriving methodologies from the TSD Framework is outlined and illustrated

Problems Encountered With Control Networks in Highly-Restructurable Digital Systems

This paper discusses problems encountered with control networks in highly restructurable digital systems. In particular the treatment of implementation errors is covered with emphasis on concurrent processing. The implementation of concurrent processing networks may result in errors which will be quite complex to detect and systematic methods are warranted. Four meta control elements are employed in obtaining convenient concurrent structures. We analyze several error detecting schemes and conclude that the arc-node method with node partitioning appears to be the most realistic approach at this time

Design Studies Suggested by an Abstract Model for Medical Information System

We have developed a formal model of a database system that is unusual in that it has the ability to represent information about its own structure and to insure semantic consistency. The model distinguishes general laws from instances of events and objects, but many of its mechanisms serve both categories of information. The model form a substrate upon which an information structure appropriate to neonatology is being developed. Some example queries are shown and a design study for an associative memory suggested by the model is described briefly