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Specification-Based Prototyping for Embedded Systems’

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Software Engineering — ESEC/FSE ’99 (ESEC 1999, SIGSOFT FSE 1999)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1687))

Abstract

Specification of software for safety critical, embedded computer systems has been widely addressed in literature. To achieve the high level of confidence in a specification’s correctness necessary in many applications, manual inspections, formal verification, and simulation must be used in concert. Researchers have successfully addressed issues in inspection and verification; however, results in the areas of execution and simulation of specifications have not made as large an impact as desired.

In this paper we present an approach to specification-based prototyping which addresses this issue. It combines the advantages of rigorous formal specifications and rapid systems prototyping. The approach lets us refine a formal executable model of the system requirements to a detailed model of the software requirements. Throughout this refinement process, the specification is used as a prototype of the proposed software. Thus, we guarantee that the formal specification of the system is always consistent with the observed behavior of the prototype. The approach is supported with the Nimbus environment, a framework that allows the formal specification to execute while interacting with software models of its embedding environment or even the physical environment itself (hardware-in-the-loop simulation).

This work has been partially supported by NSF grants CCR-9624324 and CCR-9615088.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science and Engineering Department, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Jeffrey M. Thompson & Mats P. E. Heimdahl

  2. Advanced Technology Center, Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, IA, 52402, USA

    Steven P. Miller

Authors
  1. Jeffrey M. Thompson
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  2. Mats P. E. Heimdahl
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  3. Steven P. Miller
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Informatik (IAM), Universität Bern, Neubrückstr. 10, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Oscar Nierstrasz

  2. ONERA Centre de Toulouse, DPRS/SAE, 2, Ave. E. Belin, F-31055, Toulouse Cedex, France

    Michel Lemoine

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© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Thompson, J.M., Heimdahl, M.P.E., Miller, S.P. (1999). Specification-Based Prototyping for Embedded Systems’. In: Nierstrasz, O., Lemoine, M. (eds) Software Engineering — ESEC/FSE ’99. ESEC SIGSOFT FSE 1999 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1687. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48166-4_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48166-4_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-66538-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48166-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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