Implementing Non-Functional Requirements - A Layered Modeling Approach

The consideration of non-functional requirements, like dependability or real-time ability, is essential for the development of embedded, automotive software. In combination with the high amount of software variants in this domain, the fulfillment of such requirements is a challenging task and in focus of current research. However, current methods for fulfilling non-functional requirements lack of support for commercial-off-the-shelf software modules, which are very common in this domain. In this paper, we introduce a concept, mapping nonfunctional aspects to given commercial-off-the-shelf modules with means of configuration models. The non-functional aspects are described in feature models; the given implementation is described in configuration models. The mapping between these models describes the impact of the selection of non-functional features to the configuration model. With our concept, the implementation of non-functional requirements is transferred into a transformation between feature models and configuration models. Therefore, the integration of commercial software modules into product families considering non-functional requirements becomes possible.