Designing embedded systems with MARTE: A PIM to PSM converter

Abstract

With the significant increase in complexity of system-on-chip arise the necessity of embedded systems designers to work with more flexible and detailed modelling rules. The MARTE (Modelling and Analysis of Real Time and Embedded Systems) modelling language developed by OMG (Object Management Group) to design embedded systems, supporting realtime constraints, allows specification and integration of models designed on System (Hw/Sw), Hardware(HW) and Software(Sw) levels. This language enables the MDA methodology (Model-Driven Architecture) to be employed for the development of embedded systems in a standard way independently of implementation technology. In this context, this paper presents a work in progress converter, called I2S, in which platform-independent models (PIM) are automatically converted to specific models (PSM) for the Altera and Xilinx platforms, being the latter one still under development. It also describes how the models are specified and interpreted in MARTE and how the PIM to PSM transformations occur. The PSM models generated by the converter are synthesizable to FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) devices, allowing its application to real-world problems.