Model-driven Development Method Research Articles

Model-Driven Developed Terminal for Remote Control of Charging Station for Electric Vehicles Powered by Renewable Energy

A terminal for remote control of charging stations for electric vehicles (EV) powered by renewable energy has been presented in this paper. This terminal enables remote control of EV chargers, smart batteries, smart electricity meters, fiscal cash registers (FCR), as well as remote control of renewable energy sources and other devices within the station. This terminal also makes charging stations more accessible to electric vehicles users, to electricity distribution companies, to electricity suppliers, to tax administrations, and finally to users and owners of charging stations. Therefore, communication and control with all these devices and systems is integrated in one device. Realization of hardware and software of such a terminal has also been described in this paper. The net result of development and commercialization of terminals would encourage an increase in the use of electric vehicles powered by energy from renewable sources, which would cause a decrease in the level of air pollution and all negative effects it causes in the future. Different categories of this device are considered. Moreover, although it is a device with embedded software, a very advanced method was used, that is, a model-driven development method, which enables fast and more efficient development and maintenance of the device. The results of the application of this method to the terminal for remote control of fiscal cash registers are provided. They were compared with the results of the development of the terminal for remote control of smart meters without applying this method. A simulation of the development of the terminal for remote control of the station is also provided. The presented method can be used in the future for faster and better-quality development of embedded software.

MDA-Based Approach for Blockchain Smart Contract Development

Blockchain smart contracts can support the decentralisation of business processes, but due to smart contracts’ specifics, their development is a complicated process. Introducing model-driven development principles in smart contract development can facilitate requirement specification, design, and implementation activities. This paper presents a model-driven development method MDAsmartCD (Model-Driven Architecture-based Smart Contract Development) to alleviate smart contract development by supporting the complete MDA life cycle, covering the definition of Computation-Independent Model, Platform-Independent Model, and two instances of Platform-Specific Models. In MDAsmartCD, model transformations (model-to-model and model-to-text) are used to produce smart contract code in the Hyperledger Fabric platform Go and the Ethereum platform Solidity programming languages. The method application was demonstrated by implementing the smart contract for the hackathon solution and executing the generated Solidity and Go smart contracts in the workflow of issuing certificates for hackathon participants. During the execution of the workflow, both deployed smart contracts behaved identically and recorded analogous results in respective blockchain data storages. This demonstrated that the MDAsmartCD method enables the generation of compilable and executable smart contract code, ready for deployment on a blockchain platform.

Challenges for Model-Driven Development of Strategically Aligned Information Systems

Model-Driven Development (MDD) has been proposed as an alternative to the traditional development of information systems, given its ability to integrate different stakeholders into the information system engineering process. Currently, longtime researched MDD methods and modern no-code and low-code platforms support the generation of the working code of the information system and services. However, in today’s continuously changing environment, organisations need to align the information systems and services with the business structure, strategy, and processes they support. This article shows the design challenges for integrating business strategy information into a model-driven development method. We applied a set of mechanism experiments on an MDD method composed of three modelling frameworks with demonstrated semantic consistency, that covers the organisational, business process, and information system levels to identify information loss and transformation coverage issues that prevent the generation of information systems and services that are strategically aligned. The challenges were discussed with experts, confirming the relevance of avoiding the overlapping between the strategic and business process concepts, providing organisational-level constructs to express strategic ends and means, and considering the organisational structure in the modular design of business process and information systems and services.

Алгебраїчне моделювання та його застосування

The article is devoted to the scientific development of the Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on the application of algebraic and insertional modeling technologies created on the basis of behavioral algebra. Technologies of formalization, algebraic verification, and testing of software and hardware specifications within the model-driven development method are considered. The use of algebraic modeling in biological research, development of systems based on blockchain platforms, analysis of legal and economic models is covered. One of the main areas of application of these technologies is the field of cybersecurity, which uses the method of algebraic matching and formalization of patterns of vulnerabilities and cyberattacks.

ANALISIS KEMAMPUAN WEBRATIO UNTUK PENGEMBANGAN APLIKASI WEB MENGGUNAKAN INTERACTION FLOW MODELING LANGUAGE (IFML)

The model-driven development (MDD) method is a method that can accelerate the application development process. With this method, the model can be immediately transformed into an executable application. Model-driven architecture is one kind of MDD approaches. MDA has a standard modeling language that is used to facilitate the transformation process. One of the modeling languages in MDA is Interaction Flow Management Language (IFML). IFML models an application based on the interaction flow and interface of the application. This paper explains the capabilities of WebRatio in developing Web applications and their effectiveness. The effectiveness is calculated from the effort required for the development. On the other side, the effort is calculated from the line of code (LOC) generated from the model. The experiment's case study is a simple web-shop application, with some functional and non-functional requirements. The measurement results show that to develop a web-shop, the effort required is quite efficient, only 13% of the total application. However, another study still needs to be done because many variables affect the productivity of application development.

Methodology for the model-driven development of service oriented IoT applications

Abstract The main problem with the current technology solutions for Internet of Things (IoT) is located at the application level, in which there is still a lack of software components, frameworks, and tools which can help end-users to easily develop IoT applications and to manage the things or objects. These requirements lead to the use of the principles of Model-Driven Development (MDD) and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) for the construction of software applications, allowing the generation of models at different levels of abstraction, with the possibility of generating software implementation artifacts (code) on different platforms, as well as allow the decomposition of complex and monolithic systems into loosely coupled components. In this paper, we propose a methodology based on the MDD for solving the challenges in the IoT system developments. The methodology is composed of four phases with different levels of abstraction, viewpoint, granularity, and service-oriented. Furthermore, a set of MDD methods for the transformation of models using formal rules are proposed. We present a smart vehicle scenario in which the methodology and methods are implemented, allowing the generation of executable code as a component of a real-time system. In addition, an architecture for IoT systems composed of four layers is presented, which is based on the SOA approach. In this way, the methodology and the architecture allow the interoperability (from the perspective of models and software components) between heterogeneous devices to be guaranteed in multiple ways, establishing a bridge between the digital and physical world of the IoT domain .

Non-functional requirements in model-driven development of service-oriented architectures

Any software development process needs to consider non-functional requirements (NFR) in order to deliver a system that complies with its stakeholders' expectations. In a previous mapping study about model-driven development (MDD) for service-oriented architectures (SOA) we found a limited number of approaches managing NFR. The present work aims at analyzing in detail the state of the art in the management of NFR in MDD processes which produce SOA. We have conducted a systematic literature review following a rigorous protocol. We have taken as initial point the mapping study mentioned above and have used the subset of the 31 papers from this study (clustered into 15 approaches) that referred to NFR. We have analyzed them qualitatively in order to answer six research questions. We have built a Software Engineering theory to formalize this analysis. As result we highlight that most of approaches focus exclusively on security and reliability and we observe that NFR are expressed mainly as annotations of functional models represented in UML. From our perspective, existing research on the topic of this study is still scarce and without any evidence of transferability to industry. This situation suggests the need for further investigation efforts in order to produce validated MDD methods capable of generating SOA satisfying NFR stated by stakeholders. • Any software development process needs to consider non-functional requirements (NFR) to fulfill stakeholders' expectations. • A systematic literature review on the management of NFR in MDD processes which produce SOA systems has been conducted. • Most of approaches focus on security and reliability and express NFR as annotations of functional models represented in UML. • Existing research seems to be still scarce and without any evidence of transferability to industry.

Analyzing the Improved Software Reliability Based on the Markov Model by Considering Error propagation

In the software reliability analysis we proposed an approach, which is named as Model Driven Development method. This is a modelling and model transformation techniques. The Markov model used in reliability fields is modified to adapt to error propagation behaviors of components. The Markov model has been used for results of reliability analysis. Markov model which means that that future or upcoming states depend only on the present state not on the events that occurred before it to ensure high reliability of this software is to estimate reliability accurately in the developing phase. Then a study on the transformation between model based on Architecture & Analysis Design Language (AADL) and Markov model has been done. By considering all these a model based software reliability analysis approach is proposed.

Development of a web tool for action threshold evaluation in table grape pest management

Pest control is a major issue in agricultural management due to crop yield losses caused by pests. In this context, integrated pest management aims to suppress pest populations below an action threshold to minimize their impact. This paper presents the development of a web tool based on the Spanish regulations for the integrated pest management of table grapes; this provides decision support for evaluating when a particular pest action threshold has been crossed thus affecting table grape crops. The tool was built using a model-driven software development approach that enables software system generation from the problem’s knowledge model. The design of the knowledge bases which contain the system’s decision rules is also described. It is divided into knowledge bases that contain general knowledge related to the table grape crop as well as several specific knowledge bases (one per pest) containing the reasoning model that deduces the risk associated with a particular pest. The software has been designed by applying the model-driven development method thus making the system flexible, easy to evolve and adaptable whenever a new pest has to be incorporated into the software.

Defining the resource perspective in the development of processes-aware information systems

ContextThe resource perspective has impact on the performance of business processes. However, current Workflow Management Systems (WfMSs) provide disparate support to its implementation and business process modeling languages provide limited capabilities for its definition. Thus, it is difficult to specify requirements regarding this perspective and to select an appropriate WfMS to support them in order to obtain a technological solution aligned with the organizational needs. ObjectiveTo provide support to the definition, implementation, verification and validation of resource perspective requirements in the development of Process-Aware Information Systems (PAISs) based on WfMSs. MethodThe following activities were carried out: (i) identification of resource perspective aspects in executable workflow specifications, (ii) analysis of the elements provided by the BPMN modeling language to represent these aspects, (iii) development of a framework based on BPMN for defining and implementing these aspects by using the extension mechanism provided by this language, (iv) development of a model-driven development method that leverages the framework to develop PAISs, and (v) validation of the proposed framework and method through the development of a tool supporting them, a case study, and the evaluation against the Workflow Resource Patterns. ResultsA framework, a method and a tool that support the definition of the resource perspective in the development of PAISs. ConclusionBy using the proposed framework and method, practitioners are able to: define the resource perspective requirements in conceptual process models, select a WfMS as implementation platform, and define the implementation of these requirements maintaining the consistency between the conceptual process models and the workflow specifications.

Automatic C Code Generation for Avionics Software Based on VxWorks653 Platform

At present, model-driven development method has been gradually applied in safety-critical avionics software to improve reliability and productivity. Existing ARINC653 annex of the Architecture Analysis & Design Language (AADL) is used to model avionic software based on ARINC653-compatible OS, such as VxWorks653 commercial platform. In this paper, a refined C code generation algorithm is proposed to enable automatically generate VxWorks653-runnable code from the AADL ARINC653 models. Finally, a simplified autopilot system example is as a case study to show the validity of our approch.

A Proposal to Elicit Usability Requirements within a Model-Driven Development Environment

Nowadays there are sound Model-Driven Development (MDD) methods that deal with functional requirements, but in general, usability is not considered from the early stages of the development. Analysts that work with MDD implement usability features manually once the code has been generated. This manual implementation contradicts the MDD paradigm and it may involve much rework. This paper proposes a method to elicit usability requirements at early stages of the software development process such a way non-experts at usability can use it. The approach consists of organizing several interface design guidelines and usability guidelines in a tree structure. These guidelines are shown to the analyst through questions that she/he must ask to the end-user. Answers to these questions mark the path throughout the tree structure. At the end of the process, the paper gathers all the answers of the end-user to obtain the set of usability requirements. If it represents usability requirements according to the conceptual models that compose the framework of a MDD method, these requirements can be the input for next steps of the software development process. The approach is validated with a laboratory demonstration.

Graphical Meta-Model Construction Method of Embedded Control System of Specific Areas

An embedded control system development methodology based on model-driven development method was emerged, the basic features and architecture of the embedded control system of specific areas were analyzed and summarized, and the key elements of this specific domain were identified and extracted. Afterwards, a visible element modeling technique was used to build a directly graphical model system, and this kind of embedded modeling technique based on model-driven was applied to realize a model of embedded Robot control system design. As a result, the Robot source model of this system was obtained.

A framework to identify primitives that represent usability within Model-Driven Development methods

ContextNowadays, there are sound methods and tools which implement the Model-Driven Development approach (MDD) satisfactorily. However, MDD approaches focus on representing and generating code that represents functionality, behaviour and persistence, putting the interaction, and more specifically the usability, in a second place. If we aim to include usability features in a system developed with a MDD tool, we need to extend manually the generated code. ObjectiveThis paper tackles how to include functional usability features (usability recommendations strongly related to system functionality) in MDD through conceptual primitives. MethodThe approach consists of studying usability guidelines to identify usability properties that can be represented in a conceptual model. Next, these new primitives are the input for a model compiler that generates the code according to the characteristics expressed in them. An empirical study with 66 subjects was conducted to study the effect of including functional usability features regarding end users’ satisfaction and time to complete tasks. Moreover, we have compared the workload of two MDD analysts including usability features by hand in the generated code versus including them through conceptual primitives according to our approach. ResultsResults of the empirical study shows that after including usability features, end users’ satisfaction improves while spent time does not change significantly. This justifies the use of usability features in the software development process. Results of the comparison show that the workload required to adapt the MDD method to support usability features through conceptual primitives is heavy. However, once MDD supports these features, MDD analysts working with primitives are more efficient than MDD analysts implementing these features manually. ConclusionThis approach brings us a step closer to conceptual models where models represent not only functionality, behaviour or persistence, but also usability features.

Software Agent Architecture for Managing Inter-Organizational Collaborations

The growing importance of cooperation among organizations, as a result of globalization, current market opportunitiesand technological advances, encourages organizations to dynamically establish inter-organizational collaborations.These collaborations are carried out by executing collaborative business processes among the organizations. In thiswork we propose an agent-based software architecture for managing inter-organizational collaborations. Two types ofagents are provided: the Collaboration Administrator Agent and the Process Administrator Agent. The former allowsorganizations setting up collaborations. The latter allows organizations executing collaborative business processes. AColored Petri Net model specifying the role, which an organization fulfills in a collaborative process, is used to carryout the behavior of the Process Administrator Agent that represents the organization. Planning and execution of theactions of the Process Administrator Agents are driven by a Colored Petri Net machine embedded to them. Thus,Process Administrator Agents do not require to have defined at design-time the protocols they can support. Inaddition, we propose a model-driven development method for generating Colored Petri Net models from acollaborative process model defined as interaction protocol. Finally, an implementation of the agent-based softwarearchitecture and methods based on model-driven development are presented.

A Method on Model-Driven Development of Interactive Information Visualization

Design and realize application oriented field of interactive visualization is very difficult. Lack of general development method and toolkit, provide a general support of administrative levels, network and multi-dimensional data for non-specialist users, provide a general support for various visualization techniques and interactive techniques, and provide a general support for information visualization tasks, specific to this problem, this paper presents a model driven development method for interactive information visualization-Daisy. This method can provide an effective solution for the general support solution of the development for interactive information visualization.

A proposal for modelling usability in a holistic MDD method

Holistic methods for Model-Driven Development (MDD) aim to model all the system features in a conceptual model. This conceptual model is the input for a model compiler that can generate software systems by means of automatic transformations. However, in general, MDD methods focus on modelling the structure and functionality of systems, relegating the interaction and usability features to manual implementations at the last steps of the software development process. Some usability features are strongly related to the functionality of the system and their inclusion is not so easy. In order to facilitate the inclusion of functional usability features from the first steps of the development process and bring closer MDD methods to the holistic perspective, we propose a Usability Model. The Usability Model gathers conceptual primitives that represent functional usability features in a sufficiently abstract way so that the model can be used with different holistic MDD methods. This paper defines all the primitives that can be used to represent functional usability features. Moreover, we have defined a process to include the Usability Model in any MDD method without affecting its existing conceptual model. The proposal is based on model-to-model and model-to-code transformations. As proof of concept, we have applied our proposal to an existing MDD method called the OO-method and we have measured its efficiency.

Empirical study on the maintainability of Web applications: Model-driven Engineering vs Code-centric

Model-driven Engineering (MDE) approaches are often acknowledged to improve the maintainability of the resulting applications. However, there is a scarcity of empirical evidence that backs their claimed benefits and limitations with respect to code-centric approaches. The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance and satisfaction of junior software maintainers while executing maintainability tasks on Web applications with two different development approaches, one being OOH4RIA, a model-driven approach, and the other being a code-centric approach based on Visual Studio .NET and the Agile Unified Process. We have conducted a quasi-experiment with 27 graduated students from the University of Alicante. They were randomly divided into two groups, and each group was assigned to a different Web application on which they performed a set of maintainability tasks. The results show that maintaining Web applications with OOH4RIA clearly improves the performance of subjects. It also tips the satisfaction balance in favor of OOH4RIA, although not significantly. Model-driven development methods seem to improve both the developers’ objective performance and subjective opinions on ease of use of the method. This notwithstanding, further experimentation is needed to be able to generalize the results to different populations, methods, languages and tools, different domains and different application sizes.

Using a functional size measurement procedure to evaluate the quality of models in MDD environments

Models are key artifacts in Model-Driven Development (MDD) methods. To produce high-quality software by using MDD methods, quality assurance of models is of paramount importance. To evaluate the quality of models, defect detection is considered a suitable approach and is usually applied using reading techniques. However, these reading techniques have limitations and constraints, and new techniques are required to improve the efficiency at finding as many defects as possible. This article presents a case study that has been carried out to evaluate the use of a Functional Size Measurement (FSM) procedure in the detection of defects in models of an MDD environment. To do this, we compare the defects and the defect types found by an inspection group with the defects and the defect types found by the FSM procedure. The results indicate that the FSM is useful since it finds all the defects related to a specific defect type, it finds different defect types than an inspection group, and it finds defects related to the correctness and the consistency of the models.

Graphical meta-model construction method of embedded control system

An embedded control system development methodology based on model-driven development method was studied,the basic features and architecture of the embedded control system were analyzed and summarized,and the key elements of this specific domain were identified and extracted.Afterwards,a visible element modeling technique was used to build a directly graphical model system,and this embedded modeling technique based on model-driven was applied to realize a model of embedded voice control system design.As a result,the visual source model of this system was obtained.