We have been able to get funding for the IMES research project, together with our project partners:
Goal of IMES is the exploitation of the full potential of model based development (MBD) by both applying MDB for application function oriented requirements engineering and the architecture centric design of software intensive systems and by using MBD for quality assurance and integration. One focal point of the project is the formalization of in-use approaches that are less formal (e.g. structured modeling of application functions), as well as the extension of the models in use to cover essential characteristics (e.g. definition of dynamic interface characteristic in AUTOSAR).
Another focal point is the transfer of the model based development process to industrial application, both by defining reference documents and models (i.e. application function oriented model for the specification documents) and reference solutions (e.g. standard architectures) as well as providing methods for analysis and synthesis.
An essential part is the distributed development process for automotive systems, i.e. the collaboration of OEMs and 1-tiers. Illustration one shows the intended modular structure for that collaboration. In current practice, the OEM basically defines the function to be provided by the software and uses that definition for the functional verification. The ECU and its software is developed for the most part by the 1-tier. This separation introduces an extensive effort during integration and quality assurance of the function into the full system: The OEM does not have knowledge in the software architecture and the 1-tier lacks the view on the full system to be able to design a feasible software architecture.
The system architecture is driven by the integration of monolithic single application functions. The architecture is not design for quality characteristics (e.g. ISO 9126). The reuse of application functions and software components for new models and product lines is restricted, since both function and software are designed for one product line. The adaptation of existing functions to new technical platforms requires huge effort, that should better be invested to develop new, innovative functions.
IMES aims to increase the modularization of the development. Specification of requirements, functional elements and functional software components is in the hands of the OEM. 1-tiers focus on the implementation of software and middle ware as well as the production of the ECUs. Functions do not have any implications on the competitive advantage could still be developed by the supplier. In a modular development process, development steps can be addressed by different entities. To industrialize the transition from one step to the next, a precise specification is required.
To address these issues, IMES addresses four major topics as well as the cross-cutting topic “model repository”.
- Function oriented requirements definition
- Architecture-centric system development
- Quality assurance of models
- Model based quality Assurance
- Model repository
For itemis, this is another step into bringing our technologies “up the left leg of the V” in development. Within VERDE, we are designing and implementing a solution for the traceability of requirements with Eclipse. IMES is a perfect match for that activity, since requirements specification and application function modeling are critical steps that are not yet supported enough by Eclipse based tooling.