UML for electronic systems design: a comprehensive overview

Software and embedded system companies today encounter problems related to requirements management tool integration, incorrect tool usage, and lack of traceability. This is due to utilized tools with no clear meta-model and semantics to communicate requirements between different stakeholders. This paper presents a comprehensive meta-model for requirements management. The focus is on software and embedded system domains. The goal is to define generic requirements management domain concepts and abstract interfaces between requirements management and system development. This leads to a portable requirements management meta-model which can be adapted with various system modeling languages. The created meta-model is prototyped by translating it into a UML profile. The profile is imported into a UML tool which is used for rapid evaluation of meta-model concepts in practice. The developed profile is associated with a proof of concept report generator tool that automatically produces up-to-date documentation from the models in form of web pages. The profile is adopted to create an example model of embedded system requirement specification which is built with the profile.

Welcome to the DATE 08 Conference Proceedings. DATE combines the world's favourite electronic systems design conference and Europe's leading international exhibition for electronic design, automation and test, from system level hardware and software implementation right down to integrated circuit design. The DATE 08 event features a technical program with 77 sessions covering the latest developments in system design and embedded software, IC design/test methodologies and EDA tools, together with an exhibition with the leading EDA, silicon and IP providers showing their new products and services. Challenges that you all face or soon will face in your daily practice are the increasing design complexity of highly integrated systems, the introduction of reconfigurability and embedded software, and the control of power and variability in nanometer IC designs. All these issues will be addressed in this year's DATE event. For the 11th successive year DATE has prepared an exciting technical programme, with the help of the more than 400 members of the Technical Programme Committee, who dedicated their time to thoroughly review the 839 submissions in 37 topics, ranging from system level down to circuit design and covering all the most relevant application domains. The submissions are organised in 4 major areas: D --- Design Methods, Tools, Algorithms and Languages A --- Application Design T --- Test Methods, Tools and Innovative Experiences E --- Embedded Software After a thorough review and selection process (with an average of 5 reviews per paper), finally 198 regular papers were selected for presentation at the conference. Additionally, there are 46 Interactive Presentations that are organised in 5 IP sessions. Together with the invited special sessions (panels, embedded tutorials and hot topic sessions), this has resulted in a high-quality technical program. The technical program provides a wide but high-quality coverage of design, design automation and test topics, from the system level to the integrated circuit level. Compared with previous years, submissions in the Embedded Software track has increased by 50%, showing a clear trend towards a comprehensive system design focus with integrated hardware and software solutions. DATE has established itself firmly as a true Electronic System Design Conference. This year the conference is held in Germany, at the ICM in Munich and spans an entire working week from Monday March 10 to Friday March 14. On Monday, eleven pre-conference tutorials will be given. The three-full day tutorials cover topics of great interest for system design. The first tutorial deals with techniques to automatically realising embedded system from high-level functional models. The second tutorial addresses the different issues related to communication based design and architectures in automotive electronic systems. The third tutorial discusses several key concepts on system-level design and application mapping for wireless and multimedia MPSoC architectures. Furthermore, eight half-day tutorials are also given, which cover a wide spectrum of topics on specification, modelling, design and test. The main conference opens on Tuesday March 11, with two very interesting and complementary keynote speeches. Dominique Vernay, Chief Technical Officer for Thales, will talk about the challenges of embedded systems design, and Giovanni de Micheli, Professor at EPFL, will present his views on designing micro/nano systems for a safer and healthier tomorrow. On the same day, the Executive Track offers a series of business panels with executives discussing hot topics in design: the perils of 45 nanometers, the changes in EDA strategies from IDM, to fablite to fabless, and embedded systems level design strategies. DATE 08 will again offer two specific days related to special themes. On Wednesday March 12, a special full-day track is devoted to Automotive Electronics---Software and Architecture. This special-day track will focus on the challenges faced by the automotive supply chain with particular attention to system and software architecture design. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of automotive architectures, including ECUs, sensors and communication standards and discusses how new methods, tools and standards for interoperability and component-based design can deal with the increasing complexity of software systems and their need for reliability and guaranteed timely behaviour. In addition, it addresses to what degree existing standards, including AUTOSAR and FLEXRAY and model-based development, can support the development of safety and time-critical software. On Thursday March 13, a second special full-day track focuses on Dependable Embedded Systems. This track will address both conceptual and applied issues for design, analysis and validation of dependable embedded systems. The utility of embedded systems and services is based, in large part, on our depending on their sustained functionality in spite of the encountered operational or malicious disruptions. As the number of transient and also permanent disruptions (given the decreasing device geometries, higher device density, lower voltage latching, faster clocks etc) is expected to increase substantially, this will not only be a key issue for the hardware community but also the systems community in general. Solutions using a combination of hardware and software might be more effective than hardware-only or software-only solutions. This track focuses on both conceptual and applied issues for design, analysis and validation of dependable embedded systems. Besides these special tracks, the main conference is organized in six parallel tracks of sessions, three devoted to design methods, tools, algorithms and languages, one to application design, one to test methods, tools and innovative experiences, and finally one to embedded software. The presentations of the selected regular papers in these parallel tracks are complemented by nine Special Sessions and two Invited Industrial Sessions. The special sessions are organized in the form of panels, hot topics, and embedded tutorials. The topics to be covered include quantitative evaluation for embedded systems design, design and manufacturing at 32 and 22nm, software for wireless networked embedded systems, test challenges for low power devices, quantitative productivity measurement in IC design, and 3D Integration. The two invited industrial sessions deal with industrial system designs in transportation and information technologies. To emphasise that DATE is the major event for the designers, DATE 08 features also invited sessions where Europe's famous consumer industry presents their best designs and design practices. Friday March 14 is the day for the DATE workshops. DATE 08 offers workshops on current and emerging important issues in design, test, EDA and software to complement the regular conference. They provide a unique opportunity for the various research and design communities to spend a day discussing the latest and the best, sharing their experiences and visions. This year's workshop program includes eight workshop themes. Four workshops are related to software engineering, ranging from dependable software to modelling, analysis and development tools. Four other workshop themes cover a variety of topics such as the impact of process variations on design and test, the merging world of Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems, new directions in high level synthesis, and heterogeneous reconfigurable hardware. Each workshop features presentations, invited or submitted, from highly distinguished academic and industrial researchers. Finally, throughout the conference days, DATE offers a comprehensive overview of commercial design and verification tools in its large exhibition hall. Exhibitors include EDA vendors, silicon, FPGA and IP providers showing their new products and services. In addition, there is an Exhibition Theatre featuring talks from engineering managers of the leading electronic manufacturers on first-hand design experiences of commercial EDA tools. New this year is the European projects village where different European and large government funded projects will be able to show their ongoing research and results to the design community and have the opportunity for internal meetings and discussions. The DATE week will be also an opportunity for students and universities to show their research work, through the PhD Forum on Monday evening and the University Booth where hardware and software demonstrations will be shown by different universities on a rotation schedule. The DATE 08 event's program will be particularly attractive to industrial designers, at analog, IC, FPGA and embedded system level, as well as software designers, to researchers and academics as well as to design managers, and an increasing attendance is expected. We therefore invite you to take full advantage of the many opportunities offered to you by DATE 08, to extend your knowledge and/or business in electronic system's design and to exploit the abundant networking possibilities offered to socialise with colleagues, including fringe meetings and a memorable social party with bands and dancing. We hope that you will all enjoy the DATE 08 Conference and Exhibition.

Under the complex operational environment of the antimissile operation, the application of Systems Modeling Language (SysML) parametric model in weapon system effectiveness evaluation is explored. The function of parametric graph model, the construction process of the model and the optimization method of the model are researched. Using feedback mechanism to collect, collate and calculate the parameters of the model, and realize the leap from the index relationship description to the calculation of the index. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by using the system of antimissile weapon system as an example.

The design of a radiation-hardened electronic system is in many ways no different from the design of electronic systems which must perform correctly while exposed to the more standard environments, such as temperature, vibration, and humidity. The early recognition of shock, vibration, temperature, humidity, and acceleration as environments which would influence electrical performance of the electronic systems has resulted in a thorough understanding of how to design against these environments. The reader familiar with electronic design in the more standard environments should endeavor to apply good design techniques from these environments to that of nuclear radiation, when the techniques seem applicable. This is seldom possible, since the radiation environment is in most ways quite unique, though there are instances where the approach can be used. For example, the design of electronics for operation in high temperatures (100 to 600°C) will also result in an electronic system which can withstand large integrated particle doses without degradation. The application of failure probability analysis, which is quite common for the more standard environments, has been generally neglected in work associated with the nuclear radiation environment. The importance of the failure probability analysis cannot be stressed enough. The single or few test sample determinations of component radiation sensitivity may be adequate early in the design cycle of a particular electronic system. However, toward the end of the design cycle, large test sample determination is a must in order to establish high confidence in the component selection for production units of the electronic system.

A comprehensive integration infrastructure for embedded system design

Today, wireless sensor networks designers do not fully benefit from the power of widely recognized UML (and its profiles including SysML) when it comes to modeling all aspects of a wireless sensor network. The modeling process is usually restricted to the software and therefore only partially supports the wireless sensor network's design. Among the UML profiles family, there is a language that supports the modeling of many aspects of a system (including software and hardware) : SysML (Systems Modeling Language). In this paper, we propose a SysML profile for wireless sensor networks that will support the modelling of such networks. This profile provides support for structure, behavior, requirements and energy consumption information modeling. It will allow designers to model different aspects of a wireless sensor network.

Based on literature review, electronic systems design employ largely top-down methodology. The top-down methodology is vital for success in the synthesis and implementation of electronic systems. In this context, this paper presents a new computational tool, named BD2XML, to support electronic systems design. From a block diagram system of mixed-signal is generated object code in XML markup language. XML language is interesting because it has great flexibility and readability. The BD2XML was developed with object-oriented paradigm. It was used the AD7528 converter modeled in MATLAB / Simulink as a case study. The MATLAB / Simulink was chosen as a target due to its wide dissemination in academia and industry. From this case study it is possible to demonstrate the functionality of the BD2XML and make it a reflection on the design challenges. Therefore, an automatic tool for electronic systems design reduces the time and costs of the design.

Model-based system engineering (MBSE) provides a high-level environment and efficiently handles the ever-rising complexity of computation and control systems. We introduce a requirement-driven, model-based development methodology (RDD & MBD) for real-time computation systems based on vendor neutral specifications. The proposed development methodology focuses on the use of Systems Modeling Language (SysML) to define high-level model-based design descriptions for later implementation in heterogeneous hardware/software systems. In magnetoencephalography (MEG) data processing, biological artifacts in particular overtop the signal of interest by orders of magnitude and must be removed from the measured signals to avoid reconstruction errors. However, many real-time brain computer interface (BCI) approaches neglect real-time artifact removal as it is computationally demanding. Therefore, we applied the RDD & MBD approach to the design of a system-on-chip (SoC), capable of performing real-time artifact rejection, based on the recently presented method 'Ocular and Cardiac Artifact rejection for Real-Time Analysis in MEG' (OCARTA).

Simulation languages and the GUIs supporting them may be excellent tools for creating simulation codes, but are not necessarily the best tools to use for creating descriptions of systems, i. e., for modeling. In 2006, OMG published the initial standard specification (OMG 2006) for SysML (Systems Modeling Language), an extension of UML (OMG 2007) designed specifically to support systems engineering. SysML shows great promise for creating object-oriented models of systems that incorporate not only software, but also people, material, and other physical resources, expressing both structure and behavior for such systems. In this paper, we explore the use of SysML both to model a system to be simulated and to support the automatic generation of simulation models.

The goal is to make younger generation in India, globally competitive design engineers in Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM). Karnataka government and IESA (India Electronics and Semiconductor Association) are taking major initiative to bring out working policy in ESDM. According to the mentioned ESDM policy, the plan is to bring up 28 million and make them ready for the global product design market. K-Pages provides methods and apparatus to train engineers for the ESDM industry. K-Pages is built on the 4 Quadrant learning method (used in NPTEL) and extends from there on. Quadrant I of K-Pages provides synchronous and asynchronous lectures on OSCAD tools which are free and available in http://www.oscad.in/. It is carried out by using online resources and access device like Aakash tablet PC (from MHRD) with OSCAD tools (runs in Ubuntu 13.04). Quadrant II of K-Pages is using learning and collaboration tools such that engineers are having option of asking questions on a given online content (via spoken-tutorials http://spoken-tutorial.org/) or lectures. It is providing collaborative learning option by integrating others questions and answers with respective technique of board design and analysis. Quadrant III of K-Pages provides training on “product design and product making” to learning students by using hardware and associated software infrastructure. Quadrant IV of K-Pages provides test environment and also certification options to learning engineers.

An important topic in electronic systems design is electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), which concerns the unintentional generation, propagation and reception of electromagnetic energy. Every electronic system must meet mandatory EMC standards. Basic knowledge of EMC-related issues is introduced in Sect. 6.1. Unintentional coupling of circuits are dealt with in Sect. 6.2, and design options for their prevention, for example, by selecting appropriate reference grounds, are covered in Sect. 6.3. An important measure for assuring the EMC of systems is shielding. Section 6.4 introduces the principle of shielding, and discusses shielding against different types of fields. A related discipline to EMC, electrostatic discharge (ESD), is covered in Sect. 6.5. Finally, we provide recommendations for good EMC practice in electronic systems design in Sect. 6.6.

In this paper, it will be tried to briefely talk about electronic system design. In these 20 years, electronic system such as other sciences has improved. From analog and digital circuits toward nano bio systems. It will be discussed the main methods of electronic system design not only in analog and digital systems but also about nano and bio electronics systems.

In the latest generation of astronomical telescopes the increase of the primary mirror diameter has placed ever increasing demands on the technical performance of the mirror support systems. In this paper the authors discuss the mechanical and the electronic active control system design and subsequent tests of the position actuator prototype that mechanically link the 8.4 m honeycomb mirrors of the large binocular telescope to six rigidly reinforced locations in each primary mirror cell structure. During telescope operation, these adjustable length actuators precisely control the six degrees of freedom of motion of the mirror. Each actuator has a high mechanical axial stiffness and, as new feature, an active control system, based on piezoelectric elements, in order to increase its axial stiffness, with a bandwidth from dc up to 30 Hz, assuring that the natural frequencies of the mirror do not degrade the optical performance of the telescope. Moreover, other requirements have been satisfied in the mechanic of the actuators: flexures are provided on each end to minimize any moments applied to the attachment of the actuator to the mirror; one axial load cell for each actuator provides a precise measurement of the external forces applied to the mirror, such as wind loads, for the control of the pneumatic force system that supports the weight of the mirror; a very sensitive and precise capacitive sensor measures the total length of the actuator to sub-micron resolution upon request. Each actuator has a reliable fail- safe system that limits the compressive and tensile forces that can be applied to the mirror. The mechanical and the electronic design, and the later experimental tests, of this actuator prototype have been performed in the Arcetri Laboratories under the supervision of the authors of this paper.

This chapter describes the application of MDA (Model-Driven Architecture) and UML for the modeling and specification of collaborative business processes, with the purpose of enabling enterprises to establish Business-to-Business collaborations. The proposed MDA approach provides the components and techniques required for the development of collaborative processes, from their conceptual modeling to the specifications of these processes and the partners’ interfaces in a B2B standard. As part of this MDA approach, a UML Profile is provided, which extends the semantics of UML 2 to support the analysis and design of collaborative processes. This UML Profile is based on the use of interaction protocols to model collaborative processes. The application of this UML Profile in a case study is presented. Also, an overview is provided about the automatic generation of B2B specifications from conceptual models of collaborative processes. In particular, the generation of B2B specifications based on ebXML is described.

This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 16342 Foundations of Secure Scaling. This seminar hosted researchers in secure electronic system design, spanning all abstraction levels from cryptographic engineering over chip design to system integration. We recognize that scaling is a fundamental force present at every abstraction level in electronic system design. While scaling is generally thought of as beneficial to the resulting implementations, this does not hold for secure electronic design. Indeed, the relations between scaling and the resulting security are poorly understood. This seminar facilitated the discussion between security experts at different abstraction levels in order to uncover the links between scaling and the resulting security.