TIME4SYS FOR SYSTEM ARCHITECTS CHALLENGE

Challenge

In all the domains addressed by Smart-Anything-Everywhere Initiative, the general technology trends are the same: an increasing number of functions will be distributed over a small number of high-performance embedded systems and software development becomes the main driving factor.

The resulting tooling from this experiment aims at improving the design of these software, by giving the system architect confidence – and potentially proves – on the ability of the system to match the expected behavior; a capability that was previously restricted to few specialists, late in the process, in the best case…

Solution

The solution extends proposes three main improvements to the current design practices:

• Allow the system designers to lead analysis on their designed architecture by their own; without depending on others and without leaving their working environment
• Allow to launch different tools (analysis and simulation) and give hints on the most relevant one regarding the model of the design architecture
• Allow to identify the elements and properties involved in a missed end-to-end deadline, directly in the original architecture modelling environment.

The solution thus extends the Capella system architecture environment and allows to define real time properties and constraints on the system in the early steps of design.

The solution can be used in a generic engineering framework but also provides additional features for specific domains where timing is critical and where the complexity is such that it cannot be grasped by the human mind; an Arinc 653 customization supports this whole approach in the domain of integrated modular avionics so that a A653-based system architect could get timing analysis in a few clicks.

FED4SAE Support

THALES had provided real use cases where the approach is useful and real feedback from the trenches with value assessment (cost, planning, quality).

The solution being relevant in many industrial fields, FED4SAE has supported Artal in the definition and packaging of solutions for specific domains out of our existing scope of clients.

Impact

Developing a bridge between Capella and Time4Sys is a key factor for the adoption of Time4Sys in the industry, not only aeronautics and space industry, but also smart cities, smart health, smart building, smart transport and others. The developed tooling is improving the design of these systems, by giving confidence on the ability of the system to match the expected behavior. For critical systems, it reduces the risk and associated costs of finding critical issue during the late stages of development and improve confidence on the system design. It also supports the optimization of the real time systems by reducing the security margins usually set to cope with the unforeseen chain of events leading to a failure.

This tooling supports the strategic transformation of Artal from a pure service provider to a solution provider, mixing services and licensed software products, with more added value. This requires internal transformations to adapt and strengthen the company workforce for marketing, legal and R&D services through on-going efforts and significant progress has already been made.

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