Gonzalo León

The IPTES environment: Support for incremental, heterogeneous and distributed prototyping

This paper summarizes the support for incremental, heterogeneous and distributed prototyping of real time systems developed as a part of the IPTES environment. After describing the overall architecture of the environment and related approaches, the paper focuses on the internal levels of the environment.IPTES environment supports the incremental development of Real-Time Systems under a spiral life cycle model. The user starts from a SA/RT description enhanced with an executable VDM dialect for minispecifications. Both parts are converted into high level timed Petri nets (HLTPN). The partition of the model at the SA/RT level is reflected at the HLTPN as distributed subnets. A distributed prototype execution implies the joint execution of distributed subnets. Finally, some parts of the prototype could be substituted by actual target code and executed with the rest of the prototype. This is the concept of heterogeneous prototype supported by IPTES tools. A communication protocol to allow the interchange of information while executing has been designed and implemented in the IPTES environment.A detailed description of the Real Time Object Communication Layer (RTOC), its constituent primitives and internal algorithms is presented. This discussion provides the background to understand the behavior of the High Level Timed Petri Net Kernel (HLTPNK) to execute distributed subnets and the Run Time Adaptation Kernel (RTAK) to control the execution of target code as users of the RTOC.Finally, the method used to generate successive versions of the protocol and kernel modules in order to reduce the risks during the implementaton is outlined.

Distributed execution of specifications

The IPTES project is aimed to provide a methodology and an integrated environment to support the development of embedded Real-Time Systems with incremental, distributed and heterogeneous prototyping. IPTES architecture relies on High Level Timed Petri Nets (HLTPN) as the kernel notation for prototype animation and analysis. According to the environment characteristics, a distributed execution of HLTPN is required. First a method for partitioning the nets, reflecting the required functionality of the higher layers of the environment, is provided. Specific problems of the distributed execution of nets are analyzed, and an algorithm that maintains the time semantics of the net is provided, along with a brief description of the necessary support from the communication layer. Other issues addressed are how to provide a realistic animation, in relation with the time notion perceived by the developer, and how to execute heterogeneous prototypes when some subnets are replaced by procedural code.

Early Validation of Real-Time Systems by Model Execution

Abstract The late validation of temporal aspects is still today the great bottleneck in embedded real-time systems (ERTS) development. In this article, a twofold approach is presented to reduce this problem: to enhance the visibility of temporal aspects in the product through the use of the proper design notations and models, and to integrate these notations with tools that allow the validation in a stage previous to coding. Both tools and notations allow the early feedback of functional and timing behavior, provide automatic support for the validation, and reduce the conceptual distance between the system specification and its implementation.

An Industrial Experience on LOTOS-Based Prototyping for Switching Systems Design

This paper summarizes the experience obtained in the definition of a LOTOS based development methodology and its pragmatic introduction in common industrial practice.

Strategic Aggregation of Universities in Spain: The Spanish Program International Campus of Excellence and the Experience of the Technical University of Madrid

In 2008 the Spanish government launched a new strategy to foster the modernization and internationalization of the Spanish university system, the Strategy University 2015 (SU 2015) (Strategy University 2015. Modernizing the University. June 2010. Ministry of Education. Spain). The main goal of this initiative was to allow Spanish universities to fulfil and exploit their potential to contribute to the development of a knowledge-based economy and society.

Cooperative Models for Information Technology Transfer in the Context of Open Innovation

Universities and public research institutions (PROs) are increasingly required to address strategic needs defined by industrial sectors both from the education and research standpoint and contribute more intensively to the absorption of advanced technologies. Many countries rely on the reform of traditional structures of universities and PROs by creating specific centers of excellence to ensure long-term partnerships with industry. The need for stable university-industry partnerships focuses on the evolution from short-term instruments to long-term instruments for cooperation in the wider context of technology transfer (TT) embedded in technology development processes. Within this context, governments are looking for adequate policy instruments to offer more attractive funding conditions to increase institutional involvement in TT as a pre-requirement to increase the long-term stability of public-private partnerships.

On Simulating the Adoption of New Products in Markets with Rational Users and Companies

We simulate the diffusion of products and technologies using an agent-based model that considers rational users and companies. We simulate two theoretical markets that represent the launching of a digital device and the launching of a digital platform. We find that consumers’ heterogeneity and information spread are key in determining prices and the adoption of technologies/products. We find highly differentiated markets reach lower adoption levels. Also, when companies cooperate in spreading information, markets reach higher adoption levels. Lastly, we find that highly differentiated markets are prone to failure.

An introduction to evolution of large systems based on software architectures

Market forces and current engineering practices in the field of software-intensive systems make the development and evolution of large systems difficult, resulting in high maintenance costs. A novel approach emphasizing the architectural design phase of development can improve the situation. It is called “Software Architecture” it allows us to manage the development process including evolution activities in a controlled way, by means of several views of the system. This article reviews the current state of the art in this area, and proposes a process for adoption and usage of software architectures in the development and evolution of large software systems.

Real time object communication protocol for incremental and distributed prototyping

The IPTES environment and methodology for incremental, heterogeneous and distributed prototyping of real time systems is introduced. The Real Time Object Communication Layer (RTOC) is the module in IPTES which allows the distributed execution of High Level Timed Petri Nets. The primitives and services that provides, the protocol which implements them and the functional modules of RTOC are described.

On "Influencers" and Their Impact on the Diffusion of Digital Platforms.

We simulate the impact of influencers in the adoption of digital multi-sided platforms. We consider four metrics to identify influencers: degree, betweenness, closeness and page rank, and we test how they shape the adoption, prices, and profits of digital multi-sided platforms using an agent-based model. We simulate the market adoption with and without those influencers. We find that adoption is lower and grows slower without influencers. This result is also valid even when one side has influencers, but the other one has not. Depending on the network we assume, the role of influencers is different. In some cases, the launching fails, in others, it is slower only. We also find that prices are sensitive to influencers. However, the effect on prices depends on which centrality measure we consider. Companies use prices as a tool to counterbalance the influence of influencers in profits. Lastly, we show that profits are very sensitive to influencers, without them, profits are lower.