Martin Lehofer

CHARIOT: a domain specific language for extensible cyber-physical systems

Wider adoption, availability and ubiquity of wireless networking technologies, integrated sensors, actuators, and edge computing devices is facilitating a paradigm shift by allowing us to transition from traditional statically configured vertical silos of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) to next generation CPS that are more open, dynamic and extensible. Fractionated spacecraft, smart cities computing architectures, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) clusters are all examples of extensible CPS wherein extensibility is implied by the dynamic aggregation of physical resources, affect of physical dynamics on availability of computing resources, and various multi-domain applications hosted on these systems. However, realization of extensible CPS requires resolving design-time and runtime challenges emanating from properties specific to these systems. In this paper, we first describe different properties of extensible CPS - dynamism, extensibility, remote deployment, security, heterogeneity and resilience. Then we identify different design-time challenges stemming from heterogeneity and resilience requirements. We particularly focus on software heterogeneity arising from availability of various communication middleware. We then present appropriate solutions in the context of a novel domain specific language and describe how this language and its features have evolved from our past work.

A Deployment Infrastructure for Product Line Models and Tools

Industrial experiences show that support for sharing and deploying product line models and tools is essential when institutionalizing product line engineering. This paper presents key workflows together with an infrastructure providing support for this purpose. Our approach supports distributed users sharing work products during variability modeling, product derivation, and product line evolution. The approach is based on product line bundles (PLiBs) for packaging models and tool support for specific product lines. Using three industrial scenarios and an industrial product line example we demonstrate how our infrastructure supports the deployment of models and tools in practical settings.

Variability Modelling throughout the Product Line Lifecycle

This paper summarizes our experience with introducing feature modelling into several product lines within Siemens. Feature models are used for solving various tasks in the product line lifecycle, starting with scoping the reusable asset base up to support for actual product configuration. Using feature models as primary artefacts for managing variability early in the lifecycle, we could improve the efficiency and transparency of scoping activities considerably and made the development efforts way easier to schedule. On the other end of the lifecycle, feature models lowered the engineering efforts in solution business in supporting product configuration and instantiation.

Evolution-Driven Trace Acquisition in Eclipse-Based Product Line Workspaces

Software product lines typically are large-scale systems that are maintained and evolved over many years. New customer requirements, technology changes, and internal enhancements lead to continuous changes of product line artifacts. Managing these changes represents a key issue during evolution and traceability is success-critical for this process. In this chapter we discuss traceability challenges from a product line perspective and propose an approach that supports trace acquisition in product lines. The approach builds on our highly extensible EvoKing framework for the continuous tracking of changes in Eclipse workspaces. It supports both prospective and retrospective tracing at multiple levels of granularity. We demonstrate our approach using the mobile phone product line example.

Platforms for Smart Cities – connecting humans, infrastructure and industrial IT

Todays platforms have come a long way from being focused on technical aspects - improving the lives of engineers and developers - to powerful, socio-economic platforms affecting the daily lives of millions of users. These socio-economic platforms enable a new class of applications and services to emerge at an unprecedented speed, quality and cost. Cities and Urban Areas can increase their pace of innovation, while effort for planning and implementation can be reduced from timespans of years or even a decade to months. In this paper, we will show examples of such platforms and how they impact the communities they are implemented in.

Supporting Multiplicity and Hierarchy in Model-Based Configuration: Experiences and Lessons Learned

When developing large-scale industrial software systems engineers need to instantiate, configure, and deploy diverse reusable components. The number of component instances required depends on customer requirements only known during configuration and is typically unknown when modeling the systems’ variability. Also, the hierarchy of dynamically created component instances leads to complex dependencies between configuration decisions. Dealing with component multiplicity and hierarchy thus requires an approach capable of expressing the dependencies among dynamically instantiated components and configuration decisions. Furthermore, users need tool support for navigating the complex decision space during configuration. In this experience paper we report on applying a decision-oriented modeling approach for defining component variability, multiplicity, and hierarchy. We further present a configuration tool that guides end users through the complex decision space. We report applications of the approach to industrial software systems and describe patterns and lessons learned.

Configuring and Generating Technical Documents

In industrial software development salespeople, product managers, or technical writers frequently create documents such as offers, contracts, user manuals, or technical documentation. For products that are configured specifically for different customers, the documentation also needs to be adapted to match the product. Such adaptation of documents is tedious and error-prone and can easily lead to inconsistencies. Stakeholders thus need configuration support for adapting documents. We describe a flexible approach for automatically generating product-specific documents based on product line variability models. We report on an industrial case example of applying the approach to support configuring and generating product-specific documents in an automation software product line.

Poster Abstract: A Distributed and Resilient Platform for City-Scale Smart Systems

The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) is driving several technological trends. The first trend is an increased level of integration between edge devices and commodity computers. This trend, in conjunction with low power-devices, energy harvesting, and improved battery technology, is enabling the next generation of information technology (IT) innovation: city-scale smart systems. These types of IoT systems can operate at multiple time-scales, ranging from closed-loop control requiring strict real-time decision and actuation to near real-time operation with humans-in-the-loop, as well as to long-term analysis, planning, and decision-making.