A UML-based Approach for Multi-scale Software Architectures

Abstract

Multi-level software architecture design is an important issue in software engineering. Several research studies have been done on the modeling of multi-level architectures based on UML. However, they neither included the refinement between the levels nor clarified the relationships between them. In this paper, we propose a multiscale modeling approach for multi-level software architecture oriented to facilitate adaptability management. The proposed design approach is founded on UML notations and uses component diagrams. The diagrams are submitted to vertical and horizontal transformations for refinement; this is done to reach a fine-grain description that contains necessary details that characterize the architectural style. The intermediate models provide a description with a given abstraction that allow the validation to be conducted significantly while remaining tractable w.r.t. complexity. The validation scope can involve intrinsic properties ensuring the model correctness w.r.t. the UML specification. To achieve this, we propose a set of model refinement rules. The rules manage the refinement and abstraction process (vertical and horizontal) as a model transformation from a coarse-grain description to a fine-grain description. Finally, we experimented our approach by modeling an Emergency Response and Crisis Management System (ERCMS) as a case of study.