ScenarioTools Real-Time Play-Out for Test Sequence Validation in an Automotive Case Study

In many areas, such as automotive, healthcare, or production, we find software-intensive systems with complex real-time requirements. To efficiently ensure the quality of these systems, engineers require automated tools for the validation of the requirements throughout the development. This, however, requires that the requirements are specified in an analyzable way. We propose modeling the specification using Modal Sequence Diagrams (MSDs), which express what a system may, must, or must not do in certain situations. MSDs can be executed via the play-out algorithm to investigate the behavior emerging from the interplay of multiple scenarios; we can also test if traces of the final product satisfy all scenarios. In this paper, we present the first tool supporting the play-out of MSDs with real-time constraints. As a case study, we modeled the requirements on gear shifts in an upcoming standard on vehicle testing and use our tool to validate externally generated gear shift sequences

Organisation and Communication Problems in Automotive Requirements Engineering

Project success in the automotive industry is highly influenced by Requirements Engineering (RE), for which communication and organisation structure play a major role, much due to the scale and distribution of these projects. However, empirical research is scarce on these aspects of automotive RE and warrants closer examination. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify problems or challenges in automotive RE with respect to communication and organisation structure. Using a multiple-case study approach, we collected data via 14 semi-structured interviews at one car manufacturer and one supplier. We tested our findings from the case study with a questionnaire distributed to practitioners in the automotive industry. Our results indicate that it is difficult but increasingly important to establish communication channels outside the fixed organisation structure and that responsibilities are often unclear. Product knowledge during early requirements elicitation and context knowledge later on is lacking. Furthermore, abstraction gaps between requirements on different abstraction levels leads to inconsistencies. For academia, we formulate a concrete agenda for future research. Practitioners can use the findings to broaden their understanding of how the problems manifest and to improve their organisations

G.Stieglbauer: Visual and interactive development of hard real-time code

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Challenges and Research Directions for Successfully Applying MBE Tools in Practice

Model Based Engineering aims to improve efficiency and effectiveness of software engineering. Success in industrial practice of MBE does not only depend on the modeling languages and constructive or analytical approaches, like code generation or model checking. It is also heavily influenced by the quality and, particularly, usability of the used tools. In this position paper, we discuss challenges experienced in applying MBE in practice both from academic as well as industrial viewpoints. Based on the research challenges, we discuss future research directions to improve the chances for the success of MBE in industrial practice