Model-driven Engineering Environment Research Articles

CHESSIoT: A model-driven approach for engineering multi-layered IoT systems

Context:The current technology revolution, which places the highest value on people’s welfare, is frequently seen as being mainly supported by Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. IoT is regarded as a powerful multi-layered network of systems that integrates several heterogeneous, independently networked (sub-)systems working together to achieve a shared purpose. Objective:In this article, we present CHESSIoT, a model-driven engineering environment that integrates high-level visual design languages, software development, safety analysis, and deployment approaches for engineering multi-layered IoT systems. With CHESSIoT, users may conduct different engineering tasks on system and software models under development to enable earlier decision-making and take prospective measures, all supported by a unique environment. Methodology:This is achieved through multi-staged designs, most notably the physical, functional, and deployment architectures. The physical model specification is used to perform both qualitative and quantitative safety analysis by employing logical Fault-Trees models (FTs). The functional model specifies the system’s functional behavior and is later used to generate platform-specific code that can be deployed on low-level IoT device nodes. Additionally, the framework supports modeling the system’s deployment plan and run-time service provisioning, which would ultimately be transformed into deployment configuration artifacts ready for execution on remote servers. Results:To showcase the effectiveness of our proposed approach, as well as the capability of the supporting tool, a multi-layered Home Automation system (HAS) scenario has been developed covering all its design, development, analysis, and deployment aspects. Furthermore, we present the results from different evaluation mechanisms which include a comparative analysis and a qualitative assessment. The evaluation mechanisms target mainly completeness of CHESSIoT by addressing specific research questions.

Model-driven round-trip engineering for TinyOS-based WSN applications

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) applications working on TinyOS operating system is widely used in various areas. However, the requirement of managing the power constraints makes TinyOS different from ordinary systems and hence building WSNs with TinyOS can be a challenging and time-consuming task. As successfully applied in many other domains, model-driven engineering (MDE) can facilitate the design and implementation of such applications. Within this context, the researchers have performed noteworthy studies on deriving various MDE approaches and tools. However, these studies do not support the synchronization between TinyOS application models and the generated programs especially when any change is made in the programs. Hence, in this paper, we introduce a model-driven round-trip engineering (RTE) methodology in which both the MDE of TinyOS applications and synchronization between TinyOS instance models and corresponding code are provided with the use of a toolchain. A domain-specific modeling language, called DSML4TinyOS is used for the MDE of such applications while existing TinyOS programs can be reverse engineered in an environment, called RE4TinyOS. Models retrieved from the existing programs can be automatically processed again with DSML4TinyOS. Evaluation results showed that it is possible to obtain the configurations of the TinyOS applications completely just modeling with DSML4TinyOS whereas the same process leads the automatic creation of almost half of the module parts of these applications. Moreover, the time required for developing such systems from scratch decreased approximately to its half. The results also showed that both model-code synchronization and the integration of existing TinyOS applications which do not have system models previously, into the proposed MDE are possible with using RE4TinyOS. RE4TinyOS succeeded in the reverse engineering of all main parts of the TinyOS applications taken from the official TinyOS Github repository and generated models were able to be visually processed in the MDE environment for further modifications.

Empirical validation of a quality framework for evaluating modelling languages in MDE environments

In previous research, we proposed the multiple modelling quality evaluation framework (MMQEF), which is a method and tool for evaluating modelling languages in model-driven engineering (MDE) environments. Rather than being exclusive, MMQEF attempts to complement other methods of evaluation of quality such as SEQUAL. However, to date, MMQEF has not been validated beyond some concept proofs. This paper evaluates the applicability of the MMQEF method in comparison with other existing methods. We performed an evaluation in which the subjects had to detect quality issues in modelling languages. A group of expert professionals and two experimental objects (i.e. two combinations of different modelling languages based on real industrial practices) were used. To analyse the results, we applied quantitative approaches, i.e. statistical tests on the results of the performance measures and the perception of subjects. We ran four replications of the experiment in Colombia between 2016 and 2019, with a total of 50 professionals. The results of the quantitative analysis show a low performance for all of the methods, but a positive perception of MMQEF.Conclusions: The application of modelling language quality evaluation methods within MDE settings is indeed tricky, and subjects did not succeed in identifying all quality problems. This experiment paves the way for additional investigation on the trade-offs between the methods and potential situational guidelines (i.e. circumstances under which each method is convenient). We encourage further inquiries on industrial applications to incrementally improve the method and tailor it to the needs of professionals working in real industrial environments.

Impact of model notations on the productivity of domain modelling: An empirical study

Abstract Context The intensive use of models is a cornerstone of the Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) paradigm and its claimed gains in productivity. However, in order to maximize these productivity gains, it is important to adequately select the modeling formalism to be used. Unfortunately, the MDE community still lacks empirical data to support such choice. Objective This paper aims at contributing to filling this gap by reporting an empirical study in which two types of domain model notations, graphical vs. textual, are compared regarding their efficiency and effectiveness during the creation of domain models. Method A quasi-experiment was designed in which 127 participants were randomly classified in four groups. Then, each group was randomly assigned to a different combination of notation and application. All the participants were students enrolled in the 6th semester of the Computer Engineering degree at the University of Alicante. The statistical procedure applied was a two-factor multivariate analysis of variance (two-way MANOVA). Results The data shows a statistically significant effect of notation type on the efficiency and effectiveness of domain modelling activities, independently from the application being modelled. Conclusion The joint examination of our results and those of previous studies suggests that, in MDE, different tasks call for different types of notations. Therefore, MDE environments should offer both textual and graphical notations, and assist developers in selecting the most suitable one depending on the task being carried out. In particular, our data suggest that domain model creation tasks are better supported by graphical notations. To augment the validity of the conclusions of this paper, the experiment should be replicated with different subject profiles, notations, domain model sizes, tasks and application types.

Evaluating the quality of a set of modelling languages used in combination: A method and a tool

Modelling languages have proved to be an effective tool to specify and analyse various perspectives of enterprises and information systems. In addition to modelling language designs, works on model quality and modelling language quality evaluation have contributed to the maturity of the model-driven engineering (MDE) field. Although consolidated knowledge on quality evaluation is still relevant to this scenario, in previous works, we have identified misalignments between the topics that academia is addressing and the needs of industry in applying MDE, thus identifying some remaining challenges. In this paper, we focus on the need for a method to evaluate the quality of a set of modelling languages used in combination within a MDE environment. This paper presents MMQEF (Multiple Modelling language Quality Evaluation Framework), describing its foundations, presenting its method components and discussing its trade-offs.

Towards the Model-Driven Engineering of Secure yet Safe Embedded Systems

We introduce SysML-Sec, a SysML-based Model-Driven Engineering environment aimed at fostering the collaboration between system designers and security experts at all methodological stages of the development of an embedded system. A central issue in the design of an embedded system is the definition of the hardware/software partitioning of the architecture of the system, which should take place as early as possible. SysML-Sec aims to extend the relevance of this analysis through the integration of security requirements and threats. In particular, we propose an agile methodology whose aim is to assess early on the impact of the security requirements and of the security mechanisms designed to satisfy them over the safety of the system. Security concerns are captured in a component-centric manner through existing SysML diagrams with only minimal extensions. After the requirements captured are derived into security and cryptographic mechanisms, security properties can be formally verified over this design. To perform the latter, model transformation techniques are implemented in the SysML-Sec toolchain in order to derive a ProVerif specification from the SysML models. An automotive firmware flashing procedure serves as a guiding example throughout our presentation.