A Middleware for Model-Based Embedded Systems

To deal with the increasing complexity of embedded real-time systems the model-driven development approach has proven to be beneficial. The reduction of complexity achieved by the used models, which are often implemented using a graphical modeling language, results in less faulty systems. For model-driven development to be effective, the possibility of human faults has to be kept as small as possible. This goal can be reached by utilizing automatic code generation and is hence already employed in production today. Tools like Matlab/Simulink or ASCET-SD are examples of such efforts. Yet those tools lack the possibility of designing not only parts, but specifying complete systems and generating code as well as configuration data for the overall application. The Component Language (COLA) [1] is intended to fill this gap. While generating application code for COLA models is similar to the mentioned tools, the code shall be deployed onto a distributed system with as less manual interaction as possible. To enable for unattended deployment and efficient modification of the generated system, a transparent communication layer is desirable. In this paper we present a middleware approach intended for use in automatic system deployment for COLA. Besides transparent communication the presented middleware features additional services to the application like a clock synchronization mechanism, storage of task states and more. The details about the middleware’s realization and its use for a model-driven process are described in the paper at hand.