High-level representation of time in diagrammatic specification

Abstract

The notion of time is an important element in such systems as real-time embedded systems. Real-time systems have strict timing constraints, and their complexity is continuously increasing, making their design very challenging. This paper concerns a very high level of requirements specification used for system understanding and communication among stakeholders and as a base for development. It introduces a diagrammatic description of functional behavior of a system with nonfunctional constraints including timing plan. Specifically, this paper explores the presentation of time at this level of system description. The usability and feasibility of the proposed method are illustrated by applying it to examples.