Return to Workshop Listing| Author: | William McUmber |
| Advisor: | Betty H. C. Cheng |
| Email: | mcumber@cse.msu.edu, bill@objectsr.com |
Embedded systems are very common, and very hard to build correctly. Lately, it appears Object Oriented Modeling (OOM) techniques, such as UML diagrams, may be applicable to improve the quality and robustness of embedded systems. UML is the most common industrial OOM language. While OO models are more intuitive due to their diagrams, they have no formal, precise meaning. This project introduces a framework for providing concrete meaning to UML diagrams by translating them into executable, formal specification languages such as VHDL and Promela/SPIN. The translation system is called {\bf Hydra} and is based on a (homomorphic) mapping between metamodels of UML and the formal language. The framework, supported by the prototype Hydra, enables a designer to move directly from UML diagrams to either simulation or model checking, where the entire statespace of the model can be explored, without writing code. In addition, to better suite specific applications, the target language can be refined as well as the specific semantics of the UML diagrams.