Model-driven Engineering Approach Research Articles

Quality in model-driven engineering: a tertiary study

Model-driven engineering (MDE) is believed to have a significant impact in software quality. However, researchers and practitioners may have a hard time locating consolidated evidence on this impact, as the available information is scattered in several different publications. Our goal is to aggregate consolidated findings on quality in MDE, facilitating the work of researchers and practitioners in learning about the coverage and main findings of existing work as well as identifying relatively unexplored niches of research that need further attention. We performed a tertiary study on quality in MDE, in order to gain a better understanding of its most prominent findings and existing challenges, as reported in the literature. We identified 22 systematic literature reviews and mapping studies and the most relevant quality attributes addressed by each of those studies, in the context of MDE. Maintainability is clearly the most often studied and reported quality attribute impacted by MDE. Eighty out of 83 research questions in the selected secondary studies have a structure that is more often associated with mapping existing research than with answering more concrete research questions (e.g., comparing two alternative MDE approaches with respect to their impact on a specific quality attribute). We briefly outline the main contributions of each of the selected literature reviews. In the collected studies, we observed a broad coverage of software product quality, although frequently accompanied by notes on how much more empirical research is needed to further validate existing claims. Relatively, little attention seems to be devoted to the impact of MDE on the quality in use of products developed using MDE.

Model-Driven Approach for Early Power-Aware Design Space Exploration of Embedded Systems

Due to the growing complexity of Systems-on-Chip (SoC) and the increasing cost of their redesign and fabrication, industrials are urgently looking for design methodologies allowing them to identify issues early in the design flow and to explore the largest possible space of solutions. Several aspects should be taken into account in this context, among which power consumption is considered as a major concern. In this paper, we present a Model Driven Engineering (MDE) approach for early power-aware Design Space Exploration (DSE). This approach facilitates designers work by abstracting the energetic behavior of embedded systems through high-level models targeting an automatic generation of power-aware simulation code. It offers also the possibility to model dynamic power management aspects in order to use the corresponding generated code for DSE. This approach was implemented in the DSE toolkit TTool by integrating power concepts in its DIPLODOCUS UML profile and its simulator. This paper illustrates the proposed approach through a Software-Defined Radio (SDR) case study integrating the Dynamic Slack Reclamation (DSR) policy for dynamic power management. The processor power estimates obtained by the generated simulation code were compared to those obtained from physical implementation on the Xilinx Zynq-7000 platform. This comparison showed that our MDE approach allows to take efficient design decisions early in the design flow.

An Integrated Meta-model for Cloud Application Security Modelling

Model-driven engineering (MDE) promises to automate the cloud application management phases, including deployment and adaptive provisioning. However, most MDE approaches neglect the security aspect even if it is considered the number one factor for not migrating to the cloud. As such, this paper proposes a security meta-model that a cloud-based MDE approach can exploit to become security-aware. This meta-model captures both high- and low-level security requirements and capabilities to drive application deployment as well security-oriented scalability rules to guide application re-configuration. It is also coupled with OCL constraints enforcing the security domain semantics. A method for creating re-usable security elements facilitating rapid security model specification conforming to the meta-model is also proposed, to reduce the designer's modelling effort.

Automatic Generation of Model for Building Energy Management

This paper proposes a model transformation ap-proach for model-based energy management in buildings. Indeed, energy management is a large area that covers a wide range of applications such as simulation, mixed integer linear pro-gramming optimization, simulated annealing optimization, model parameter estimation, diagnostic analysis,. . . Each application re-quires a model but in a specific formalism with specific additional information. Up to now, application models are rewritten for each application. In building energy management, because the optimization problems may be dynamically generated, model transformation should be done dynamically, depending on the problem to solve. For this purpose, a model driven engineering approach combined with the use of a computer algebra system is proposed. This paper presents the core specifications of the transformation of a so-called high level pivot model into applica-tion specific models. As an example, transformations of a pivot model into both an acausal linear model for mixed integer linear programming optimization and a causal non-linear model for simulated annealing optimization are presented. These models are used for energy management of a smart building platform named Monitoring and Habitat Intelligent located at PREDIS/ENSE3 in Grenoble, France.

A Model Driven Engineering Approach to Support the Development of Secure Software as a Service

A Model Driven Engineering Approach to Support the Development of Secure Software as a Service

An Ontology-Based Product Architecture Derivation Approach

Software product line (SPL) engineering has proven to improve software quality and shorten development cycles, cost and time. In product line engineering, product derivation is concerned with the realization of the variability at the implementation level. However, the majority of research works focuses on instantiating the variants selected in the final product, while the derivation at the architecture level has been poorly explored. As product line engineers often customize the product architecture by hand during the application engineering phase, the derivation and customization processes of the product line architecture (PLA) might be in some cases error-prone. Consequently, in this research we present an Ontology-based product Architecture Derivation (OntoAD) framework which automates the derivation of product-specific architectures from an SPL architecture. Our solution uses a language-independent model to specify the product line architecture and a model-driven engineering approach for architecture derivation activities. We use an ontology formalism to reason about the automatic generation of model-to-model transformation rules based on the selection of features and we illustrate our approach using a voice over IP motivating example. Finally, we report results about scalability and performance regarding the size of the variability model.

An open distributed architecture for flexible hybrid assembly systems: a model-driven engineering approach

Assembly systems constitute one of the most important fields in today’s industry. The need for flexibility in the assembly process imposes several challenges in the development of this kind of systems. Model-driven engineering (MDE) has been successfully used to alleviate the complexity of platforms and express domain concepts effectively. In this paper, an open distributed architecture for the engineering of evolvable flexible hybrid assembly systems is described. The proposed architecture is based on the model-driven development paradigm. Models are used to represent in a formalized way the structure, the behavior, and the requirements of the assembly systems. A domain-specific engineering tool is defined to facilitate the assembly system engineer in the engineering process of assembly systems. Specific meta-models are defined to capture domain knowledge and guide the engineer in the construction of the models required to construct the assembly system. The proposed approach imposes a correct-by-construction approach and is based on an architecture that exploits the benefits of Cyber Physical paradigm utilizing web technologies, Internet of Things, and Cloud computing.

MDE Approach for the Establishment of a Service Level Agreements Monitoring by Trusted Third Party in the Cloud Computing

Establishing and monitoring SLA violations in real-time has become a critical issue for Cloud Computing. In this paper the authors investigate this issue and propose a model to express the SLA contract requirements using Model Driven Engineering (MDE), as a mean for establishing service level agreements between a cloud provider and cloud customer in the context of a particular service provision. The participation of a Trusted Third Party (TTP) may be necessary in order to resolve conflicts between prospective signatories, likewise to monitor SLA violations in real-time in the goal to ensure online monitoring cloud services and provide better than best-effort behavior for clouds. The main focus of this work is firstly to use MDE technology for the creation of the SLA contract and then to integrate TTP that should be able to apply an advanced penalty model that guarantees the performance and the reliability of the Cloud.

The Experience of Implementing Model-Driven Engineering Tools in the Process Control Domain

Model-driven engineering (MDE) is a software-engineering paradigm that is being introduced into a growing number of domains. One of the most important success factors for a new MDE approach is the availability of the appropriate tool support for it. Although the literature discusses the development of support tools, only a few reports and analyses are available about the development of tool support for real-life modeling languages and MDE approaches. The goal of this paper is to fill this gap through an experience report about developing a tool-suite prototype for an MDE approach for the process control domain that is capable of supporting the development of real-life process control software. Before the work presented in this paper an initial prototype tool suite was already developed. However, it was not able to adequately support industry-scale projects. The paper starts with an analysis of the past development of this already-existing laboratory prototype and then moves on to a report about the development of the industrial prototype, which is influenced by the findings of the analysis. Then a comparison between the two prototypes is made and the lessons learned are described, which may be useful to practitioners who attempt to develop support tools for an MDE approach that are useful in practice. The most important lesson learned is that when developing tool support for complex modeling languages, the traditional development approach should not be easily rejected.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.itc.44.2.6258

Model-driven engineering: A survey supported by the unified conceptual model

During the last decade a new trend of approaches has emerged, which considers models not just documentation artefacts, but also central artefacts in the software engineering field, allowing the creation or automatic execution of software systems starting from those models. These proposals have been classified generically as Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) and share common concepts and terms that need to be abstracted, discussed and understood. This paper presents a survey on MDE based on a unified conceptual model that clearly identifies and relates these essential concepts, namely the concepts of system, model, metamodel, modeling language, transformations, software platform, and software product. In addition, this paper discusses the terminologies relating MDE, MDD, MDA and others. This survey is based on earlier work, however, contrary to those, it intends to give a simple, broader and integrated view of the essential concepts and respective terminology commonly involved in the MDE, answering to key questions such as: What is a model? What is the relation between a model and a metamodel? What are the key facets of a modeling language? How can I use models in the context of a software development process? What are the relations between models and source code artefacts and software platforms? and What are the relations between MDE, MDD, MDA and other MD approaches?

A Model-Driven Approach on Object-Oriented PLC Programming for Manufacturing Systems with Regard to Usability

This paper presents the modular automation for reuse in manufacturing systems (modAT4rMS) approach to support the model-driven engineering (MDE) of object-oriented manufacturing automation software with regard to its usability and software modularity. With usability, we refer to the aspects' effectiveness, efficiency, and user acceptance as defined by ISO 9241-11. The modAT4rMS notations are based on selected features from the unified modeling language (UML) and the systems modeling language (SysML), and iteratively further developed by a series of empirical studies with industrial practitioners, as well as mechatronics trainees. With modAT4rMS, an MDE approach for programmable logic controller (PLC) programming was developed with the goal to facilitate modular object-oriented programming of PLC software by improving the representation of the relationships between the structure and behavior diagram types, and by reducing the level of abstraction in the structure model. modAT4rMS notations for PLC software structure and software behavior modeling are presented and illustrated with a modeling example using a modAT4rMS editor prototype. For the evaluation of the developed notations, the results from a study with 168 participants are presented, showing the benefits of this new approach in comparison with the classic procedural paradigm (IEC 61131-3) and the domain-specific UML profile (plcML) in regard to programming performance and usability aspects. Finally, the advantages and limitations of the approach are discussed, and an outlook for further development is given.

A comprehensive modeling framework for role-based access control policies

Prohibiting unauthorized access to critical resources and data has become a major requirement for enterprises; access control (AC) mechanisms manage requests from users to access system resources. One of the most used AC paradigms is role-based access control (RBAC), in which access rights are determined based on the user’s role.Many different types of RBAC policies have been proposed in the literature, each one accompanied by the corresponding extension of the original RBAC model. However, there is no unified framework that can be used to define all these types of policies in a coherent way, using a common model.In this paper we propose a model-driven engineering approach, based on UML and the Object Constraint Language (OCL), to enable the precise specification and verification of such policies. More specifically, we first present a taxonomy of the various types of RBAC policies proposed in the literature. We also propose the GemRBAC model, a generalized model for RBAC that includes all the entities required to define the classified policies. This model is a conceptual model that can also serve as data model to operationalize data collection and verification. Lastly, we formalize the classified policies as OCL constraints on the GemRBAC model.

Towards a Standard-Based Domain-Specific Platform to Describe Points of Interest

Abstract With the proliferation of mobile and distributed systems capable of providing its geoposition and even the geoposition of any other element, commonly called point of interest, developers have created a multitude of new software applications. For this purpose, different technologies such as the GPS or mobile networks are used. There are different languages or formats used to define these points of interest and some applications that facilitate such work. However, there is no globally accepted standard language, which complicates the intercommunication, portability and re-usability of the definitions of points of interest currently in use. In this paper, we take the first steps towards a language and a development environment independent of the underlying technologies, allowing developers to define the points of interest in a simple and fast way, and automatically generate other different formats from the same definition that can be considered a bridge among current technologies. We use the Model-Driven Engineering approach, focusing on the creation of models to abstract the definition of systems from the underlying technologies.

Activity Monitoring Process based on Model-Driven Engineering – Application to Ambient Assisted Living

AbstractThe supervisor of the activities of a system user should benefit from the knowledge contained in the event logs of the user. They allow the monitoring of the sequential and parallel user activities. To make event logs more accessible to the supervisor, we suggest a process mining approach, including first the design of an understanding model of the activities of a system user. The model design is based on the relationships between the event logs and the activities of a system user. An intervention model completes the understanding model to assist the supervisor. The intervention model enables an action of the supervisor on the critical activities, and the detection of anomalies. The models are automatically designed with a model-driven engineering approach. An experiment on a smart home system illustrates this tooled design, where the supervisor is a medical or paramedical staff member.

Towards a Standard-based Domain-specific Platform to Solve Machine Learning-based Problems

Machine learning is one of the most important subfields of computer science and can be used to solve a variety of interesting artificial intelligence problems. There are different languages, framework and tools to define the data needed to solve machine learning-based problems. However, there is a great number of very diverse alternatives which makes it difficult the intercommunication, portability and re-usability of the definitions, designs or algorithms that any developer may create. In this paper, we take the first step towards a language and a development environment independent of the underlying technologies, allowing developers to design solutions to solve machine learning-based problems in a simple and fast way, automatically generating code for other technologies. That can be considered a transparent bridge among current technologies. We rely on Model-Driven Engineering approach, focusing on the creation of models to abstract the definition of artifacts from the underlying technologies.

A simulation as a service methodology with application for crowd modeling, simulation and visualization

Crowd modeling and simulation (M&S) has been used to support the analysis of the behavior of crowds, in order to predict the impact of pedestrian movement and to test design alternatives. In recent years, crowd M&S has become more complex, and new technologies such as CAD (computer-aided design) and BIM (building information modeling) authoring tools are being used to support the process. There are challenges in adopting these technologies due to the lack of automation and integration of these tools for crowd M&S. We propose a method based on a distributed architecture with simulation in the cloud, and composition using workflows. In particular, we adopt a model-driven engineering approach to extract data from CAD/BIM authoring tools, Cell-DEVS theory for crowd modeling, simulation as a service to execute simulation remotely, and three-dimensional visualization. Finally, we present a case study for crowd evacuation, discussing the advantages of the proposed architecture. We show the advantages obtained when using distributed deployment, simulation-based design and collaborative development and we discuss how this facilitates the crowd behavior study and improves reusability in crowd M&S.

Incorporating usability requirements into model transformation technologies

Model transformation plays a key role in the model-driven engineering (MDE) approach. In fact, it describes the process of converting one model into another of the same system. Considering a source model, there may be several ways to transform it into target models. Although alternative target models may be equivalent from the functional viewpoint, they may differ in their usability attributes. One of the key challenges for an automated transformation process is to identify which model transformations will produce a target model with the desired usability attributes. The present paper addresses this issue and provides a parameterized transformation to deal with usability driven in an MDE approach. Specifically, it focuses on how to associate usability attributes with the different alternative transformations and how this can be taken into account in an automated transformation process to obtain user interface model with the desired usability attributes.

MeTAGeM-Trace: Improving trace generation in model transformation by leveraging the role of transformation models

In the context of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE), generation of traces can be automated using the implicit traceability relationships contained in any model transformation. Besides, if transformations are developed adopting a Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) approach, i.e. promoting the role of models and the level of automation, model transformation will benefit from the promised advantages of MDE in terms of less costly software development while reducing the inherent complexity of coding model transformations. To put these ideas into practice, this work introduces MeTAGeM-Trace, the first prototype of an EMF-based toolkit for the MDD of model-to-model transformations which supports trace generation, i.e. it allows developing model transformations that produce not only the corresponding target models, but also a trace model between the elements of the source and target models involved in the transformation.

Supporting interoperability of collaborative networks through engineering of a service-based Mediation Information System (MISE 2.0)

The Mediation Information System Engineering project is currently finishing its second iteration (MISE 2.0). The main objective of this scientific project is to provide any emerging collaborative situation with methods and tools to deploy a Mediation Information System (MIS). MISE 2.0 aims at defining and designing a service-based platform, dedicated to initiating and supporting the interoperability of collaborative situations among potential partners. This MISE 2.0 platform implements a model-driven engineering approach to the design of a service-oriented MIS dedicated to supporting the collaborative situation. This approach is structured in three layers, each providing their own key innovative points: (i) the gathering of individual and collaborative knowledge to provide appropriate collaborative business behaviour (key point: knowledge management, including semantics, exploitation and capitalisation), (ii) deployment of a mediation information system able to computerise the previously deduced collaborative processes (key point: the automatic generation of collaborative workflows, including connection with existing devices or services) (iii) the management of the agility of the obtained collaborative network of organisations (key point: supervision of collaborative situations and relevant exploitation of the gathered data). MISE covers business issues (through BPM), technical issues (through an SOA) and agility issues of collaborative situations (through EDA).

Model-driven engineering of Manufacturing Automation Software Projects – A SysML-based approach

This paper comprises a SysML-based approach to support the model-driven engineering (MDE) of Manufacturing Automation Software Projects (MASP). The Systems Modeling Language (SysML) is adapted to define the SysML-AT (SysML for automation), a specialized language profile that covers (non-)functional requirements, corresponding software applications and properties of proprietary hardware components. Furthermore, SysML-AT supports an automated software generation for run-time environments conforming to IEC 61131-3. A prototypical tool support was realized for adapted SysML Parametric Diagrams (PD) inside an industrial automation software development tool. Coupling the model editor and online data from the provided run-time environment enables direct debugging inside the model. The approach was evaluated by several case studies and additional usability experiments. With the latter, the suitability of the MDE approach for future users was proven.