Transformation of UML Models into Formal RTPA Specifications

The transformability between the diagram-based UML and the mathematics-based real-time process algebra (RTPA) is analyzed and experimented. RTPA is adopted in order to provide a rigor and formal semantics for UML in software system modeling and specifications. This paper presents a method to transform UML into RTPA. XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) is adopted as the medium language in the conversion. A tool is designed and implemented that links visualized system modeling methods and rigorous software specification notation systems towards formal system modeling and RTPA-based automatic software code generation for software engineering.