Yanja Dajsuren

Simulink models are also software: modularity assessment

In automotive industry, more and more complex electronics and software systems are being developed to enable the innovation and to decrease costs. Besides the complex multimedia, comfort, and safety systems of conventional vehicles, automotive companies are required to develop more and more complex engine, aftertreatment, and energy management systems for their (hybrid) electric vehicles to reduce fuel consumption and harmful emissions. MATLAB/Simulink is one of the most popular graphical modeling languages and a simulation tool for validating and testing control software systems. Due to the increasing complexity and size of Simulink models of automotive software systems, it has become a necessity to maintain the Simulink models. In this paper, we defined metrics for assessing the modularity of Simulink models. A Java tool developed to measure the defined metrics on Simulink models interfaces with a visualization tool to facilitate the maintenance tasks of the Simulink models. The modularity metrics is furthermore validated in two phases. In the first phase, the modularity measurement is validated against the experts evaluation of a system. In the second phase, we studied the relationship between metric values and number of faults. We have observed that high coupling metric values frequently correspond to number of faults. Modularity metrics will be extended to architectural quality metrics for automotive systems.

Automotive ADLS: a study on enforcing consistency through multiple architectural levels

Over the last decade, Architecture Description Languages (ADLs) are attracting considerable attention by automotive companies because they consider them as one of the key solutions to improve the quality of automotive electronic and software systems. Automotive ADLs like EAST-ADL, AADL, TADL, and AML are being defined to address not only the architectural description or the representation issues but also as a method to enable requirements traceability and early analysis of a system. Besides the automotive specific ADLs, SysML and MARTE are emerging as viable modeling approaches for automotive systems engineering domain as well. However, all these modeling approaches lack the capability of ensuring the architectural quality. This paper identifies an architectural inconsistency between the different architectural levels as one of the key issues regarding architectural quality of automotive systems and proposes a rule-based method to enforce consistency between these levels. Since there is no standard ADL for automotive systems, we first evaluated a set of modeling approaches based on the automotive specific modeling requirements and selected SysML mainly due to its flexibility, and mature and accessible tool support. We modeled a Cruise Control system to demonstrate modeling of an automotive system in SysML and to evaluate the method for the architectural consistency checking using SysML.

A novel industry grade dataset for fault prediction based on model-driven developed automotive embedded software

In this paper, we present a novel industry dataset on static software and change metrics for Matlab/Simulink models and their corresponding auto-generated C source code. The data set comprises data of three automotive projects developed and tested accordingly to industry standards and restrictive software development guidelines. We present some background information of the projects, the development process and the issue tracking as well as the creation steps of the dataset and the used tools during development. A specific highlight of the dataset is a low measurement error on change metrics because of the used issue tracking and commit policies.

Formalizing correspondence rules for automotive architecture views

Architecture views have long been used in software industry to systematically model complex systems by representing them from the perspective of related stakeholder concerns. However, consensus has not been reached for the architecture views between automotive architecture description languages and automotive architecture frameworks. Therefore, this paper presents the automotive architecture views based on an elaborate study of existing automotive architecture description techniques. Furthermore, we propose a method to formalize correspondence rules between architecture views to enforce consistency between architecture views. The approach was implemented in a Java plugin for IBM Rational Rhapsody and evaluated in a case study based on the Adaptive Cruise Control system. The outcome of the evaluation is considered to be a useful approach for formalizing correspondences between different views and a useful tool for automotive architects.

Tailoring complexity metrics for simulink models

The size and complexity of Simulink models is constantly increasing, just as the systems which they represent. Therefore, it is beneficial to control them already at the design phase. In this paper we establish a set of complexity metrics for Simulink models to capture diverse aspects of complexity by proposing new and redefining existing metrics. To evaluate the applicability of our metrics, we compare them with the closed-source metric proposed by Mathworks. Moreover, through a case study from the automotive domain, we relate such metrics to quality attributes as determined by domain experts, and correlate them to known faults. Preliminary assessment suggests that complexity is closely related to analysability, understandability, and testability.

On Error-Class Distribution in Automotive Model-Based Software

Software fault prediction promises to be a powerful tool in supporting test engineers upon their decision where to define testing hotspots. However, there are limitations on a cross project prediction and a lack of reports upon application to industrial software, as well as the power of metrics to represent bugs. In this paper, we present a novel analysis based upon faults discovered in model-based automotive software projects and their relationship to metrics used to perform fault prediction. Using our previously released dataset on software metrics, we report bug classes discovered during heavy testing of those automotive software. As the software has been developed following strict coding and development guidelines, we present the results based on a comparison between the discovered error classes and those which might derive a reduced potential error set. Using the three projects from our dataset we determine if any of these bug classes are project specific.

Handling clone mutations in simulink models with VCL

Like any other software system, real life Simulink models contain a considerable amount of cloning. These clones are not always identical copies of each other, but actually show a variety of differences from each other despite the overall similarities. Insufficient variability mechanisms provided by the platform make it difficult to create generic structures to represent these clones. Also, complete elimination of clones from the systems may not always be practical, feasible, or cost-effective. In this paper we propose a mechanism for clone management based on Variant Configuration Language (VCL) that provides a powerful variability handling mechanism. In this mechanism, the clones will be managed separate from the models in a non-intrusive way and the original models will not be polluted with extra complexity to manage clone instances. The proposed technique is validated by creating generic solutions for Simulink clones with a variety of differences present between them.

Automotive architecture description and its quality

This research is part of the Hybrid Innovations for Trucks (HIT), an ongoing multi-disciplinary project with the objectives of CO

Message from the WASA 2017 Organizing Committee

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2nd International Workshop on Automotive Systems and Software Architectures (WASA)—Introduction to special section

emission reduction and fuel saving for long haul vehicles. Achieving this goal necessitates definition of a proper architecture and quality techniques to enable the development of a new and more efficient control software. Therefore, this research covers automotive architecture description language and quality of automotive software.