Model-Driven Mechatronic System Development

This paper presents an approach for model-driven mechatronic system development. The approach starts with the definition of a suitable domain-specific modeling language and its semantic foundation in a domain ontology. Models created in this language are used to generate application-specific artefacts. We illustrate our approach with the example of the development of Electric Vehicle Testbeds (EVTs), i.e. systems for testing high-voltage electric vehicle components. Companies in the electric vehicle industry (automobile, aircraft and rail vehicle manufacturers) mainly use such systems. Like many other mechatronic systems, EVTs are typically tailor-made solutions. Our approach automates manual development steps and can thus contribute to quality improvement, development time reduction and finally cost reduction.