An automated software design assistant

An automated software design assistant was implemented as a part of a long-term project with the objectives of applying the computer-aided technique to the tools in a software engineering environment. A set of quantitative measures are derived based on the degree to which a particular design satisfied the attributes associated with a structured software design. The measure are then used as decision rules for a computer-aided methodology for structured design. The feasibility of the approach is also demonstrated by a case study using a small application system design problem     

Macro level product development using design for modularity

Modular design is an engineering methodology that will organize and structure a complex product, process or system into a set of distinct sub-systems and components that may be developed independently of each other and then assembled together. Modular design aims at identifying independent and standard units that could be used to create a variety of products. A structured methodology is proposed for identifying components that can be developed in parallel. In the proposed methodology the needs and product functional requirements are first established. The product is then decomposed based on its functional and physical characteristics. Next, a similarity index is introduced to measure the associativity between the basic components. Finally, a clustering technique is used to integrate the basic components into design modules based on their similarity index.     

On the application of the {1}-inverse to the design of general structured unknown input observers

This paper presents a concise and straightforward formulation of the unknown input observer (UIO) problem based on the general structured observer. By employing the simplest generalized inverse of matrices, the {1}-inverse, we develop constructive design procedures for the UIO design that provide necessary and sufficient conditions for both full-order and reduced-order general structured UIOs. Moreover, corresponding configurations for continuous-time systems are also derived, and consequently this paper renders the complete solutions for general structured UIO design. Furthermore, we show that the general structured UIO is structurally and numerically equivalent to the UIO in the configuration of Luenberger observer. Examples are included to illustrate the validity of the proposed methodology.     

SOFL: a formal engineering methodology for industrial applications

Formal methods have yet to achieve wide industrial acceptance for several reasons. They are not well integrated into established industrial software processes, their application requires significant abstraction and mathematical skills, and existing tools do not satisfactorily support the entire formal software development process. We have proposed a language called SOFL (Structured-Object-based-formal Language) and a SOFL methodology for system development that attempts to address these problems using an integration of formal methods, structured methods and object oriented methodology. Construction of a system uses structured methods in requirements analysis and specifications, and an object based methodology during design and implementation stages, with formal methods applied throughout the development in a manner that best suits their capabilities. The paper describes the SOFL methodology, which introduces some substantial changes from current formal methods practice. A comprehensive, practical case study of an actual industrial Residential Suites Management System illustrates how SOFL is used     

The Interval-Enhanced GNU Fortran Compiler

Compiler support for intervals as intrinsic data types is essential for promoting the development and wide-spread use of interval software. It also plays an important role in encouraging the development of hardware support for interval arithmetic. This paper describes modifications made to the GNU Fortran Compiler to provide support for interval arithmetic. These modifications are based on a recently proposed Fortran 77 Interval Arithmetic Specification, which provides a standard for supporting interval arithmetic in Fortran. This paper also describes the design of the compiler's interval runtime libraries and the methodology used to test the compiler. The compiler and runtime libraries are designed to be portable to platforms that support the IEEE 754 floating point standard.     

机电产品数字化工业设计多目标评价关键技术

论文从工业设计的理念和方法出发,阐述了计算机辅助技术进行机电产品数字化工业设计多目标评价的理论和方法。并以专家系统技术为基本框架构建了支持产品数字化设计的计算机辅助设计评价原型系统,确定了评价目标树,评价目标树模版库,评价目标库以及评价工具集等四个系统功能模块,并详细讨论了这四个模块结构、内容的构建和实现过程。为面向机电产品的数字化工业设计多目标评价提供了新思路、新方法。最后,通过产品实例验证了该技术在设计中的应用。     

Developing software using OVID

Object View Interaction Design is a structured design methodology that helps the design team create a good, object-based user interface design. Because OVID uses a structured process and appropriate tools, the design progresses more quickly with fewer cycles of iteration     

嵌入式应用软件设计方法学研究综述

嵌入式系统的资源（CPU、存储器等)有限，具有专用性(很多硬件设备根据应用定制)，要求实时处理，因此嵌入式应用软件设计方法学必须满足这些特性。本文对嵌入式应用软件设计方法学进行了综合研究(包括结构化的软件设计方法学、面向对象的软件设计方法学和基于构件的软件设计方法学)，讨论了各种方法学的特点及其适用场合，总结了嵌入式应用软件设计方法学的发展规律，指出了未来的发展方向。     

A new method for singular value loop shaping in design of multiple-channel controllers

In this note, simple symmetric interval bounds on the singular values of a matrix based on its Gershgorin disks are proposed. This allows the Gershgorin theorem to be used not only to provide information about the location of the eigenvalues of a matrix but also its singular values. This is utilized for the proposition of a new design technique for singular value loop shaping based on the diagonal dominance methodology for design of linear multivariable plants. In return, this allows multiple-channel simply structured controllers to be designed with a view to robustness and to meet constraints and specifications on the behavior of its singular values. A design example is given demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach.     

Constructing Geographic Digital Libraries using a Hypermedia Framework

This paper presents an object oriented hypermedia database framework for designing and building digital libraries, which are treated as enhanced hypermedia applications. It is based on combining and extending results from two domains: the navigation characteristics of hypertext systems, and the view mechanism and the persistent storage management facility of an object oriented database management system. As a result, users can alternate between two integrated types of interaction modes. The hypertext dimension of the framework allows navigation via static and dynamic hyperlinks; the object oriented database support enables querying by content and metadata management. The framework includes still a digital library design methodology that guides the implementation of digital libraries over the OODBMS. This proposal integrates hypermedia and DL concepts to a database environment, being instantiated on the realm of geographic data.     

Extending Ecological Interface Design principles: A manufacturing case study

Identifying information requirements is a well-understood activity, but the practice of converting data into visual form based on these requirements is less defined. The Ecological Interface Design (EID) framework attempts to bridge this design gap by offering a set of visual design principles. While these principles supply high-level goals to be achieved by the display, they do not describe the design process per se. EID case studies tend to report the work domain analysis, the design solution and the relationship between these two artefacts. Unfortunately, the presentation of a final solution does not reveal the rationale for decisions made during the design process. This, coupled with the complexity of the systems involved, can make it difficult to transfer design knowledge to other work domains. Here a methodology is proposed to guide the design of visual interface components that make up an ecological display. A structured approach for matching requirements to visual form based on work domain analysis, task analysis, scale matching, and data transformations is presented. A case study reveals the rationale behind the redesign of a process control health reporting system using this methodology.     

Control and definition modularization: an improved software designtechnique for organizing programs

The author proposes a technique called control and definition modularization (CDM), which derives a systematic program layout from a given structure chart using the concepts of `control' and `definition' modules. A control module includes processes for handling a conceptual data object not directly implementable. A definition module defines operations associated with a concrete data object implementable using a primitive or derived data type of a programming language. Grouping the operations available for each concrete data object, and keeping them separated from execution flow, improves programs maintainability. This technique extends the structured design methodology and provides designers with a systematic way of deriving informational strength modules as well as a structured physical layout from the structure chart. A program based on the CDM technique is easier to understand and maintain. This research makes a significant contribution toward bridging the gap between structured design and object-oriented concepts     

Hardware based genetic evolution of self-adaptive arbitrary response FIR filters

This work presents a hardware implementation of an FIR filter that is self-adaptive; that responds to arbitrary frequency response landscapes; that has built-in coefficient error tolerance capabilities; and that has a minimal adaptation latency. This hardware design is based on a heuristic genetic algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed design is more efficient than non-evolutionary designs even for arbitrary response filters. As a byproduct, the paper also presents a novel flow for the complete hardware design of what is termed as an Evolutionary System on Chip (ESoC). With the inclusion of an evolutionary process, the ESoC is a new paradigm in modern System on Chip (SoC) designs. The ESoC methodology could be a very useful structured FPGA/ASIC implementation alternative in many practical applications of FIR filters.     

Reengineering legacy embedded systems

Systems that require reengineering are a fact of life in both the commercial and military arenas. The authors have developed a systematic methodology based on virtual prototyping, with accompanying tools and libraries, for rapidly upgrading electronic systems     

Uncovering hidden contracts: the .NET example

Software contracts take the form of routine preconditions, postconditions, and class invariants written into the program itself. The design by contract methodology uses such contracts for building each software element, an approach that is particularly appropriate for developing safety-critical software and reusable libraries. This methodology is a key design element of some existing libraries, especially the Eiffel Software development environment, which incorporates contract mechanisms in the programming language itself. Because the authors see the contract metaphor as inherent to quality software development, they undertook the work reported in the article as a sanity check to determine whether they see contracts everywhere simply because their development environment makes using them natural or whether contracts are intrinsically present, even when other designers don't express or even perceive them. They studied classes from the .NET collections library for implicit contracts and assessed improvements that might result from making them explicit.     

Efficient evaluation of multifactor dependent system performance using fractional factorial design

Performance of computer-based systems may depend on many different factors, internal and external. In order to design a system to have the desired performance or to validate that the system has the required performance, the effect of the influencing factors must be known. Common methods give no or little guidance on how to vary the factors during prototyping or validation. Varying the factors in all possible combinations would be too expensive and too time-consuming. This paper introduces a systematic approach to the prototyping and the validation of a system's performance, by treating the prototyping or validation as an experiment, in which the fractional factorial design methodology is commonly used. To show that this is possible, a case study evaluating the influencing factors of the false and real target rate of a radar system is described. Our findings show that prototyping and validation of system performance become structured and effective when using the fractional factorial design. The methodology enables planning, performance, structured analysis, and gives guidance for appropriate test cases. The methodology yields not only main factors, but also interacting factors. The effort is minimized for finding the results, due to the methodology. The case study shows that after 112 test cases, of 1024 possible, the knowledge gained was enough to draw conclusions on the effects and interactions of 10 factors. This is a reduction with a factor 5-9 compared to alternative methods.     

A structured modeling based methodology to design decision support systems

Many Decision Support Systems (DSS) support the decision making process through the use of mathematical models and data. DSS design involves modeling data as well as mathematical relationships in a domain. The process of model formulation and subsequent integration of model with data in a DSS is a complex and ill-structured process. This paper proposes a methodology based on Structured Modeling (SM), originally introduced by Geoffrion together with the modeling language SML, to model and design the DSS. The methodology includes rigorous and step by step procedures to design and integrate data and modelbases. The main contribution of our approach lies in the integration of research in database design, and mathematical model formulation within the structured modeling framework. The resultant procedures can be easily automated and taught to students in DSS courses. The motivation for our research stemmed from our constant frustrations in teaching DSS courses over the last five years. In the last two years, when we used our methodology, the performance of the students improved significantly. The average score in the DSS project went up to 85 from 60. Our positive experience in using our methodology in classes over the past two years suggests that the methodology imposes structure into the analysis of decision problems, and as a result students produce better DSS designs for classroom cases.     

A Methodology for Structured Database Decomposition

We present a methodology for structured database decomposition based on the relational data model. It is argued that in the distributed database environment, structured database decomposition is attractive both for efficiency and for database security considerations. Techniques for parallel processing and hashed access of structurally decomposed database are presented. Techniques for structured database decomposition to support multiple user views are also described. Structured database decomposition is most advantageous in a query only database environment with stable user views, although dynamic updates can also be handled using techniques described in this paper.