REVERSE ENGINEERING OF COMPUTER-BASED CONTROL SYSTEMS

Abstract

This article presents a process for the reengineering of computer-based control systems, and describes tools that automate portions of the process. The intermediate representation (IR) for capturing features of computer-based systems during reverse engineering is presented. A novel feature of the IR is that it incorporates the control system software architecture, a view that enables information to be captured at five levels of granularity: the program level, the task level, the package level, the subprogram level, and the statement level. A reverse engineering toolset that constructs the IR from Ada programs, displays the IR, and computes concurrency, communication and object-orientedness metrics is presented. Also described is the design of hypermedia techniques that enhance the usability of the reverse engineering tools.