Software architecture design for real-time control systems: how design patterns could help?

Software architecture design for real-time control systems: how design patterns could help?

연구 분야: Verification

학회: Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering

In this paper, we deal with the software architecture design of real-time control systems. Given the inherent complexity of such systems on the one hand and the pressing demand for high-quality systems in industry on the other, the design phase becomes paramount. One key objective during this phase is to produce a software architecture that describes a possible realization of the application while adhering to both functional and non-functional requirements, particularly those related to timing. Typically, architects rely on their experience to explore different design alternatives, employing a trial-and-error approach to produce an acceptable architecture. In this paper, we propose the use of real-time patterns to help designers define the appropriate architecture with a trial-and-error strategy. The proposed patterns assist designers in setting design choices and evaluating them using schedulability analysis techniques. These patterns encapsulate the knowledge of a real-time expert in scheduling analysis theory. In addition, to accelerate the process and help designers evaluate various design alternatives, we automate the generation of the analysis model. The obtained results show the applicability of the proposed pattern to a real-life case study and their effectiveness in exploring various software designs.