Embedded Software Industry Research Articles

Refactoring embedded software: A study in healthcare domain

In embedded software industry, stakeholders usually promote run-time properties (e.g., performance, energy efficiency, etc.) as quality drivers, which in many cases leads to a compromise at the levels of design-time qualities (e.g., maintainability , reusability, etc.). Such a compromise does not come without a cost; since embedded systems need heavy maintenance cycles. To assure effective bug-fixing, shorten the time required for releasing updates, a refactoring of the software codebase needs to take place regularly. Objective: This study aims to investigate how refactorings are applied in ES industry; and propose a systematic approach that can guide refactoring through a 3-step process for refactoring: (a) planning; (b) design; and (c) evaluation. The aforementioned goals were achieved by conducting a single case study in a company that develops medical applications for bio-impedance devices; and follows a rather systematic refactoring process in periodic timestamps. Three data collection approaches have been used: surveys, interviews (10 practitioners), and artifact analysis (51 refactoring activities). The results of the study suggest that: (a) maintainability and reusability are the design-time quality attributes that motivate the refactoring of Embedded Software (ES), with 30% of the participants considering them as of “Very High” importance; (b) the refactorings that are most frequently performed are “Extract Method”, “Replace Magic Number with Constant” and “Remove Parameter”. We note that the “Extract Method” refactoring has an applicability of more than over 80%; and (c) to evaluate the refactoring process engineers use tools producing structural metrics, internal standards, and reviews. The outcomes of this study can be useful to both researchers and practitioners, in the sense that the former can focus their efforts on aspects that are meaningful to industry, whereas the latter are provided with a systematic refactoring process.

Skills Gaps in the Industry

Many practitioners in the software-intensive embedded industry often face difficulties after beginning their careers due to misalignment of the skills learned at the university with what is required in the workplace. Companies spend crucial resources to train personnel whose academic backgrounds are not only based on “computing disciplines” but also on non-computing ones. Analyzing the gap between the software industry and academia is important for three reasons: (1) for employers, hiring properly trained practitioners allows them to spend less time in training them while incorporating them more efficiently into the workforce; (2) for practitioners, knowing the most important skillset is helpful to increase their chance of employability; and (3) for academia, understanding the necessary skillset is critical to making curriculum changes. To achieve these objectives, we conducted a survey that yielded responses from 659 software professionals working worldwide in different roles. In this study, we only included the responses of 393 embedded software practitioners whose undergraduate degree was completed in Turkey, working in 10 countries. This article sheds light on the most important skills in the embedded software industry by presenting various cross-factor analyses. Understanding the coverage of these skills in the curriculum (mostly in Turkish universities) helps bridge the gaps, which can and should be achieved through more Industry Academia Collaborations (IACs).

Modeling cultures of the embedded software industry: feedback from the field

Engineering of modern embedded systems requires complex technical, managerial and operational processes. To cope with the complexity, modeling is a commonly used approach in the embedded software industry. The modeling approaches in embedded software vary since the characteristics of modeling such as purpose, medium type and life cycle phase differ among systems and industrial sectors. The objective of this paper is to detail the use of a characterization model MAPforES (“Modeling Approach Patterns for Embedded Software”). This paper presents the results of applying MAPforES in multiple case studies. The applications are performed in three sectors of the embedded software industry: defense and aerospace, automotive and transportation, and consumer electronics. A series of both structured and semi-structured interviews with 35 embedded software professionals were conducted as part of the case studies. The characterization model was successfully applied to these cases. The results show that identifying individual patterns provides insight for improving both individual behavior and the behavior of projects and organizations.

Information Flow in Software Testing – An Interview Study With Embedded Software Engineering Practitioners

Background: In order to make informed decisions, software engineering practitioners need information from testing. However, with the trend of increased automation, there is exponential growth and increased distribution of this information. This paper aims at exploring the information flow in software testing in the domain of embedded systems. Method: Data was collected through semi-structured interviews of twelve experienced practitioners with an average work experience of more than fourteen years working at five organizations in the embedded software industry in Sweden. Seventeen hours of audio recordings were transcribed and anonymized into 130 pages of text that was analyzed by means of thematic analysis. Results: The flow of information in software testing can be represented as feedback loops involving stakeholders, software artifacts, test equipment, and test results. The six themes that affect the information flow are how organizations conduct testing and trouble shooting, communication, processes, technology, artifacts, and the organization of the company. Seven main challenges for the flow of information in software testing are comprehending the objectives and details of testing; root cause identification; poor feedback; postponed testing; poor artifacts and traceability; poor tools and test infrastructure; and distances. Finally, five proposed approaches for enhancing the flow are: close collaboration between roles; fast feedback; custom test report automation; test results visualization; and the use of suitable tools and frameworks. Conclusions: The results indicate that there are many opportunities to improve the flow of information in software testing: a first mitigation step is to better understand the challenges and approaches. Future work is needed to realize this in practice, for example, on how to shorten feedback cycles between roles, as well as how to enhance exploration and visualization of test results.

A survey on modeling and model-driven engineering practices in the embedded software industry

Abstract Software-intensive embedded systems have become an essential aspect of our lives. To cope with its growing complexity, modeling and model-driven engineering (MDE) are widely used for analysis, design, implementation, and testing of these systems. Since a large variety of software modeling practices is used in the domain of embedded software, it is important to understand and characterize the-state-of-the-practices and also the benefits, challenges and consequences of using software modeling approaches in this domain. The goal of this study is to investigate those practices in the embedded software engineering projects by identifying to what degree, why and how software modeling and MDE are used. To achieve this objective, we designed and conducted an online survey. Opinions of 627 practicing embedded software engineers from 27 different countries are included in the survey. The survey results reveal important and interesting findings about the state of software modeling and MDE practices in the worldwide embedded software industry. Among the results: (1) Different modeling approaches (from informal sketches to formalized models) are widely used in the embedded software industry with different needs and all of the usages could be effective depending on the various modeling characteristics; (2) The majority of participants use UML; and the second most frequently selected response is “Sketch/No formal modeling language”, which shows the wide-spread informal usage of modeling; (3) In model-driven approaches, it is not so important to have a graphical syntax to represent the model (as in UML) and depending on the type of target embedded industrial sector, modeling stakeholders prefer models, which can be represented in a format that is readable by a machine (as in DSL); (4) Sequence diagrams and state-machines are the two most popular diagram types; (5) Top motivations for adopting MDE are: cost savings, achieving shorter development time, reusability and quality improvement. The survey results will shed light on the state of software modeling and MDE practices and provide practical benefits to embedded software professionals (e.g., practitioners, researchers and also educators).

외생화 산업연관모형을 활용한 임베디드 소프트웨어산업의 산업연계구조 및 경제적 파급효과 분석 : 6개 주요분야를 중심으로

본 연구는 제조업 전장화, 서비타이제션 등과 같은 미래 환경변화에서 점차 중요해지는 임베디드SW 산업의 국민경제적 파급효과와 산업연계구조를 분석하기 위해 산업연관분석을 실시하였다. 이를 위해 유 · 무선통신, 정보/가전기기, 사무자동화, 산업자동화, 자동차, 조선의 6개 유관분야로부터 임베디드SW를 개별산업으로 도출한 뒤 임베디드SW 산업과 6개 세부분야별로 각각 분석을 진행하였다. 또한 임베디드SW 산업이 내생부문인 여타 산업부문에 미치는 파급효과를 살펴보기 위해 외생화한 산업연관모형을 수립하였고 파급효과를 후방연쇄효과와 전방연쇄효과로 나누어 수요/공급의 두 관점에서 분석하였다. 분석결과 임베디드SW 산업은 패키지SW나 IT서비스 등 여타 소프트웨어와 차이점이 존재함을 알 수 있었다. 완제품과의 강한 연관성을 지니는 특성 상 제조업과 유사한 산업연계구조가 나타났으며 제1차 금속, 화학, 전기 · 전자기기, 기계 · 장비 등과 같은 제조 부문과의 강한 연관성을 드러냈다. 6개 분야별로 차이는 존재하나 도 · 소매, 석탄 · 석유, 화학, 운수, 광산품 등 또한 임베디드SW 산업과 상당한 연계구조를 지니는 것으로 분석되었다. 임베디드SW 산업에 대한 통계자료나 일관된 정의가 부족한 상황에서 개별산업으로 도출하여 국민경제적 파급효과를 살펴보았다는 점에서 본 연구의 의의가 존재하며 자료의 시계열화를 통한 동태적 분석을 향후의 연구과제로 남겨두는 바이다.

Role of Technology Integration in Mergers & Acquisitions: A Case Study from the Embedded Software Industry

Role of Technology Integration in Mergers & Acquisitions: A Case Study from the Embedded Software Industry

Role of Technology Integration in Mergers & Acquisitions: A Case Study from the Embedded Software Industry

There is a huge potential for the embedded products in the global market. MergersaAcquisitions certainly play a significant role to meet such high-growth market segments in the global environment. This paper follows a case study approach considering the merger of two embedded software companies located in different countries. The source company was interested to buy the target company to leverage the technological integration of both the companies, enabling development of a new cost optimized product. The focus of this paper is to examine the challenges of technology management just after the merger and the subsequent impact on business financials. It also describes the strategic solutions to address these issues and the successive financial results after implementation of these strategies.

The State of Embedded-Device Security (Spoiler Alert: It's Bad)

Embedded-systems security is a mess, and the embedded-software industry needs to start focusing on it. This will involve moving beyond just the technology to rethink our assumptions of how people will actually use and maintain embedded devices.

Training Initiative for Embedded Software Engineers through Collaborative Research Project and Open Educational Course

The authors developed two types of human resource development program consisting of a) one-year collaborative research project, and b) open education course, aimed to train embedded software engineers to high technical standards. In the collaborative research oriented approach, the authors train engineers through research project at Nagoya University. In the open education course, the authors reflect and adopt the latest outcome of the aforementioned research project to one or two days open education course to educate engineers. This allowed the authors to design and provide several courses aimed to train engineers with the latest contents that reflect the rapid technical advances in the embedded software industry. The courses were highly evaluated by the participants.