Model-based embedded software development flow

The need for new embedded software development design methodologies arises from the increasing complexity and sophistication of embedded systems. The paper proposes a novel approach for model-driven development and verification of embedded software. This approach mainly depends on the separation of design and implementation phases of the development process. The proposed design comprises two main phases for development: modeling the software using xtUML and fully verifying the model to match specification, then the generation of the embedded software code from the created model. Following this approach allows helps to discover specification errors early in the development process, and facilitates the reuse of various parts of the model. The proposed flow also introduces the possibility of using model based testing (MBT) tools for automatic test generation. Using, this complete flow, only the effort of creating two models (one for software module code generation and one for test generation) will be required replacing the traditional complete design, implementation, test design, test implementation and test execution flow.