Transforming UML-based system descriptions into simulation models as part of system development frameworks

Abstract

The support of the engineering process for computer-based systems by Co-Design frameworks is the key to lower production cost and the time-to-market for complex devices. Early in the design cycle, system models must be rated, concerning design constraints and decisions must be made. To enable system engineers to gauge concurring systemrealizations approaches, such frameworks must allow the prediction of key characteristics for the system under development, like performance, battery consumption and heat production. Hereby, the prediction of the system performance constitutes the vital constraint. In this work, we demonstrate, how an EQN-based performance simulation method can be seamlessly embedded into a Hardware / Software Co-Design framework based on UML system descriptions. The presented approach yields a performance simulation model, ready for the automated simulation process, and therefore fosters the performance evaluation of the system under development. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.