Towards early performance assessment based on UML MARTE models for distributed systems

Distributed systems are the current solution for large and complex systems. Their main disadvantage is the communication delay which has to be controlled, otherwise they may become unusable. Early performance assessment, by using tools which process system models, helps in making informed design decisions. The new standard in time-critical systems is MARTE (Modeling and Analysis of Real-Time and Embedded systems), adopted in 2008 by OMG (Object Management Group) as a new UML (Unified Modeling Language) profile. This paper focuses on automatic extraction of performance models from UML models, with MARTE annotations; most of the existing analysis tools are still based on the now obsolete SPT (Schedulability, Performance and Time) profile. The envisioned tool should be versatile and accept several types of diagrams, since UML allows a multitude of system views. The output performance model should be easy to refine either into an analytical model or into a simulation one. However, only the relevant information from the UML model should be stored in the performance model, in order to improve analysis efficiency. The outcome of this research activity is building a tool that combines flexibility and conciseness, while being suitable for performance analysis.