Dynamic Meta Modeling with Time: Specifying the Semantics of Multimedia Sequence Diagrams

UML offers different diagram types to model behavior and dynamics of software systems. In some domains like embedded real-time systems or multimedia systems, it is necessary to include specifications of time since the correctness of these applications depends on the fulfillment of temporal requirements in addition to functional requirements. UML thus already incorporates language features to model time and temporal constraints. Such model elements must have an equivalent in the semantic domain. We have proposed Dynamic Meta Modeling (DMM) as a means for the specification of the formal operational semantics of UML models by applying graph transformation to the meta modeling of dynamic behavior. Within this paper, we extend this approach to also account for time by building on timed graph transformations. We apply these concepts to the domain of multimedia application modeling in which we adopt UML sequence diagrams. The DMM rules with time then specify an interpreter that can be used to analyze or test a model of multimedia sequence diagrams.     

Object-oriented design of FMS control software based on object modeling technique diagrams and Petri nets

Control software is very important to realizing the full benefits of flexible manufacturing systems. This paper highlights the difficulties in developing such software and proposes an object-oriented design (OOD) method using object modeling technique (OMT) diagrams and Petri nets (PNs). OOD is used to design reusable and easily maintainable software. OMT diagrams are used to represent explicitly different kinds of static relations, such as generalization, aggregation, and association, among the objects in an FMS. PNs are used to model the dynamic behavior of the objects and the entire FMS and to conduct performance analysis. The use of PNs also leads to a method to identify the data structures and operations of software objects. The proposed method is illustrated through an FMS example. Its capability to support reusability, extendibility, and modifiability of the resulting control software design is also demonstrated when the FMS specifications change.     

Dynamic Meta Modeling with time: Specifying the semantics of multimedia sequence diagrams

The Unified Modeling Langugage (UML) offers different diagram types to model the behavior of software systems. In some domains like embedded real-time systems or multimedia systems, it is necessary to include specifications of time in behavioral models since the correctness of these applications depends on the fulfillment of temporal requirements in addition to functional requirements. UML thus already incorporates language features to model time and temporal constraints. Such model elements must have an equivalent in the semantic domain.We have proposed Dynamic Meta Modeling (DMM), an approach based on graph transformation, as a means for specifying operational semantics of dynamic UML diagrams. In this article, we extend this approach to also account for time by extending the semantic domain to timed graph transformation. This enables us to define the operational semantics of UML diagrams with time specifications. As an example, we provide semantics for special sequence diagrams from the domain of multimedia application modeling.     

基于UML的CPN模型在软件测试中的应用

UML在被工业界广泛接受的同时也成为学术界遵循的一种标准建模语言。许多面向对象软件测试的研究都围绕UML模型开展。但UML模型属于半形式化模型,往往无法自动生成测试用例。将UML模型与Petri网相结合,能够弥补其数学支持的不足。文章给出了基于UML的CPN模型的测试框架和一个从UML模型构造CPN模型的算法,并根据该方法给出了自动化支持工具U2CPN的类图结构。     

包含协议和语义的构件一致性验证方法

在基于构件的系统设计中,需要对构件的一致性进行验证。构件的一致性包括语义一致性和协议一致性,已有的一致性验证方法仅支持构件的协议一致性验证。而在实际应用中除了要进行构件的协议一致性验证外,还需要进行其语义一致性验证。为此提出了一种包含协议和语义的构件一致性验证方法。所提方法将方法语义与基于场景的需求规约相结合,使用语义扩展接口自动机模型(SIA)来建模构件的语义和协议信息,使用带有语义约束的UML交互概观图来表示基于场景的需求规约。通过对SIA和带语义约束的UML交互概观图的行为的理论分析,进一步形成了一种一致性验证算法,并用实例来说明其过程。该算法不仅能够检验系统中构件的协议一致性,而且能够检验其语义一致性。该算法中的方法语义包括了该方法参数的类型和详细语义信息,更符合实际应用情形。     

基于场景规约的构件式系统设计分析与验证

使用接口自动机及接口自动机网络来描述构件式系统的行为设计模型,使用UML顺序图表示基于场景的需求规约,对系统设计阶段的构件交互行为的动态兼容性进行形式化分析和检验.通过对接口自动机网络状态空间的分析,给出了一系列算法以检验系统行为的存在一致性以及几种不同形式的强制一致性性质,包括前向强制一致性、逆向强制一致性以及双向强制一致性等.     

A Knowledge-Based Software Engineering Environment for reusable software requirements and architectures

This paper describes a prototype Knowledge-Based Software Engineering Environment used to demonstrate the concepts of reuse of software requirements and software architectures. The prototype environment, which is application-domain independent, is used to support the development of domain models and to generate target system specifications from them. The prototype environment consists of an integrated set of commercial-off-the-shelf software tools and custom developed software tools.The concept of reuse is prevalent at several levels of the domain modeling method and prototype environment. The environment itself is domain-independent thereby supporting the specification of diverse application domain models. The domain modeling method specifies a family of systems rather than a single system; features characterize the variations in functional requirements supported by the family and individual family members are specified by the features they are to support. The knowledge-based approach to target system generation provides the rules for generating target system specifications from the domain model; target system specifications, themselves, may be stored in an object repository for subsequent retrieval and reuse.     

A knowledge system for integrated product design

This paper discusses the architecture and implementation issues for a knowledge system to assist in product design. The goals of the concurrent Design Advisor (CODA) are to enhance the quality of designs by 25 percent and the efficiency by a factor of 10. The improvement springs from the integration of diverse knowledge bases, ranging from customer needs to product evaluation, and from process configuration to production control. One source of efficiency is the automation of many routine tasks, thereby increasing user productivity. Another source is the increase in the quality of initial designs, which obviates the need for numerous iterations in the design process due to poor manufacturability. CODA is based on the general architecture of the Creativity Support System, an expert system for assisting users in specific domains requiring creative solutions. The bilevel structure of the system consists of a domain-independent module containing general tools and techniques for creative problem-solving, and a domain-dependent module incorporating knowledge specific to particular fields of application. The utility of this approach is illustrated in the realm of concurrent product design by demonstrating a CODA within the general architecture of the system.     

Automatic synthesis of SARA design models from system requirements

In this research in design automation, two views are employed as the requirements of a system-namely, the functional requirements and the operations concept. A requirement analyst uses data flow diagrams and system verification diagrams (SVDs) to represent the functional requirements and the operations concept, respectively. System Architect's Apprentice (SARA) is an environment-supported method for designing hardware and software systems. A knowledge-based system, called the design assistant, was built to help the system designer to transform requirements stated in one particular collection of design languages. The SVD requirement specification features and the SARA design models are reviewed. The knowledge-based tool for synthesizing a particular domain of SARA design from the requirements is described, and an example is given to illustrate this synthesis process. This example shows the rules used and how they are applied. An evaluation of the approach is given     

Software merge: Combining changes to decompositions

Computer aid for software evolution is needed for more effective software development, particularly in contexts where changes to large systems must be made rapidly. This paper addresses computer aid for the evolution of requirements models and high level software designs. We present an improved method for automatically merging changes to software designs expressed via annotated dataflow diagrams and hierarchical decomposition. This improvement addresses the structure of the design as well as the system behavior the design implies. We also present an improved method for automatically reporting and repairing conflicts between structural changes. These methods can be applied to the informal dataflow diagrams commonly used in requirements modeling and software design as well as to the more specific executable design representations used in the computer-aided prototyping system CAPS.     

A transformation‐based approach to testing concurrent programs using UML activity diagrams

Unified Modeling Language (UML) activity diagrams are widely used to model concurrent interaction among multiple objects. In this paper, we propose a transformation‐based approach to generating scenario‐oriented test cases for applications modeled by UML activity diagrams. Using a set of transformation rules, the proposed approach first transforms a UML activity diagram specification into an intermediate representation, from which it then constructs test scenarios with respect to the given concurrency coverage criteria. The approach then finally derives a set of test cases for the constructed test scenarios. The approach resolves the difficulties associated with fork and join concurrency in the UML activity diagram and enables control over the number of the resulting test cases. We further implemented a tool to automate the proposed approach and studied its feasibility and effectiveness using a case study. Experimental results show that the approach can generate test cases on demand to satisfy a given concurrency coverage criterion and can detect up to 76.5% of seeded faults when a weak coverage criterion is used. With the approach, testers can not only schedule the software test process earlier, but can also better allocate the testing resources for testing concurrent applications. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

双重软件体系结构描述框架XYZ/ADL

体系结构设计在软件开发过程中扮演着重要角色.工程中常用图形语言为软件体系结构建模,它们有直观、半形式化的优点;但是语义不够精确,难以对它们表示的模型进行分析,在这方面,形式化方法可与之互补.但在工程使用中仅用形式化语言建模又不太现实,所以如何结合二者之长以提高软件的可靠性已成为工业界和学术界共同关心的问题.提出了双重软件体系结构描述框架XYZ/ADL:支持工程中软件体系结构的基本概念,前端用一般的体系结构框图作为结构描述,用UML活动图、状态图作为抽象行为表示;后端用既可表示系统动态语义又可表示系统静态语义的时序逻辑语言XYZ/E作为一致的语义基础.前端的图形语言便于软件工程师的交流和使用,后端的形式语言是进一步的形式化分析验证的基础.     

基于场景构件式实时软件设计的一致性检验

在复杂的实时软件系统中使用构件式设计方法,已成为目前软件工程中的研究热点.如何有效地验证实时软件的设计是否满足给定的时间规约,是实时计算领域中的主要挑战之一.通过在接口自动机模型中添加时间区间标记,来扩展其对实时系统接口行为的表达能力;使用实时接口自动机网络来描述实时软件系统的构件式设计模型;使用带布尔不等式时间约束的UML顺序图表示基于场景的需求规约,对系统设计阶段实时软件构件的动态行为进行形式化分析与检验.通过对实时接口自动机网络状态空间的分析,构造了其可兼容的整型状态等价类空间的可达图,并在此基础上给出了验证算法,以检验构件式实时软件系统的设计与带时间约束的场景式规约之间的一致性.     

Semantic information alignment of BIMs to computer-interpretable regulations using ontologies and deep learning

A semantic information alignment method is proposed to align the representations used in building information models (BIMs) to the representations used in energy regulations. Compared to existing alignment efforts, which are either manual or semi-automated, the proposed method aims to automate the alignment process for supporting fully automated energy compliance checking. A first-level simple alignment method is proposed to align single design information instances to single regulatory concepts, in which (1) domain knowledge is used for interpreting the meaning of concepts to recognize candidate instances, and (2) deep learning is used for capturing the semantics behind the words to measure semantic similarity and select the matches. A final complex alignment method is proposed to recognize the instance groups belonging to a regulatory requirement, in which (1) supervised and unsupervised searching algorithms are used to identify the instance pairs, and (2) network modeling is used to group and link the instance pairs to the requirement. The proposed method showed 93.4% recall and 94.7% precision on the testing data.     

基于场景模式的嵌入式软件测试用例设计

将场景和模式方法用于嵌入式软件测试用例的设计与生成,通过对被测软件系统需求进行分析建模,将建立的场景模型划分到不同的场景模式中,依据场景模式构建测试场景的状态图,遍历场景状态图以获取测试执行路径,确定相关的测试数据,设计并生成测试用例。实验结果证明,该方法可以较快地设计和生成测试用例,提高测试用例的可重用性,实现对嵌入式软件的有效测试。     

Specifying behavioral semantics of UML diagrams through graph transformations

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been widely accepted as a standard for modeling software systems from various perspectives. The intuitive notations of UML diagrams greatly improve the communication among developers. However, the lack of a formal semantics makes it difficult to automate analysis and verification. This paper offers a graphical yet formal approach to specifying the behavioral semantics of statechart diagrams using graph transformation techniques. It supports many advanced features of statecharts, such as composite states, firing priority, history, junction, and choice. In our approach, a graph grammar is derived automatically from a state machine to summarize the hierarchy of states. Based on the graph grammar, the execution of a set of non-conflict state transitions is interpreted by a sequence of graph transformations. This facilitates verifying a design model against system requirements. To demonstrate our approach, we present a case study on a toll-gate system.     

Translation and Optimization in the Verification of Real-Time Systems

Compilation or translation is not only an issue at the level of program but also at the level of specification. This talk considers the design of real-time software for Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and discusses questions of correctness and optimization for translations between different semantic models. The need for such translations arises in order to bridge the gap between conceptually clear models on the one hand and computationally feasible models on the other hand.To exemplify this, the talk considers so-called Constraint Diagrams as formalizations of behavioural requirements and so-called PLC-Automata as design specifications. Both Constraint Diagrams and PLC-Automata are given a formal semantics in the Duration Calculus, a logic for real-time systems. To enable an automatic verification (model-checking) of designs against requirements, translations of Constraint Diagrams and PLC-Automata into Timed Automata are presented. Semantic correctness and optimization of these translations are discussed.The concepts presented in the talk are implemented in a tool called Moby-RT that besides the above verification facilities also offers a compiler for PLC code generation.     

HOOD方法与形式化技术的集成研究

ＨＯＯＤ是由欧洲ＥＳＡ公司开发的一种面向对象软件结构设计方法,它使用图形,结构化英语和Ａｄａ伪码来描述系统的设计规约,本文首先概述了ＨＯＯＤ方法的基本概念和对它进行的改进,然后提出了一种集成ＨＯＯＤ和形式化技术的方法,借助该方法可以获得更为严格的软件设计规约,最后简要介绍了其机器支持系统。