Designing a Graphical Domain-Specific Modelling Language Targeting a Filter-Based Data Analysis Framework

We demonstrate the application of a Model-Driven Software Development (MDSD) methodology using the example of an analysis framework designed for a data logging device in the field of vehicle testing. This mobile device is capable of recording the data traffic of automotive-specific bus systems like Controller Area Network (CAN), Local Interconnect Network (LIN), FlexRay and Media Orientied Systems Transport (MOST) in real-time. In order to accelerate the subsequent analysis of the tremendous amount of data, it is advisable to pre-filter the recorded log data on device, during the test-drive. To enable the test engineer of creating data analyses we built a component-based library on top of the languages System{C}/C++. Problematic with this approach is that still substantial programming knowledge is required for implementing filter algorithms, which is usually not the domain of a vehicle test engineer. In a next step we developed a graphical modelling language on top of our library and a graphical editor. The editor is able of verifying a model as well as of generating source code which eliminates the need of manually implementing a filter algorithm. In our contribution we show the design of the graphical language and the editor using the Eclipse platform and the Graphical Modelling Framework (GMF). We describe the automatic extraction of meta-information, such as available components, their interfaces and categorization annotations by parsing the library's C++ implementation with the help of Xtext. The editor will use that information to build a dedicated tool palette providing components that the designer can instantiate and interconnect using drag-and-drop.