Technical Approach
AADL language extensions and standardisation
The project is adopting and contributing to the ongoing AADL (Architecture Analysis & Design Language) standardisation efforts. Although AADL (version 1, the currently promulgated version) already has a significant coverage of architectural and non-functional features, the project is examining a set of requirements for new concepts and properties needed to be reified in the AADL modelling language so as to enable analysis and verification.
Process and Verification / Validation / Analysis tools
The project is shaping and defining guidelines for a development process including verification tools.
A set of tools targeting a comprehensive set of activities in real-time and embedded development is built by the consortium, and integrated in a common framework (Topcased).
A complete list of tools is available here.
Component-based Software platforms
Based on existing successfull background and expertise in component-oriented embedded software platforms design for embedded devices (General Purpose processors - GPP -, Digital Signal processors - DSPs -, Microcontrollers), SPICES is pushing further the adoption of component-orientation in the scope of Avionics platforms, more precisely, in IMA (Integrated Modular Avionics) / ARINC653 platforms, and in software defined radio platforms (including GPPs, DSPs and FPGAs).
The intents are:
- support the integration of embedded components onto ARINC653 and POSIX platforms (used in Avionics systems), support distribution in this context
- support the integration of embedded components into a chain of heterogeneous and communicating computing devices, including reconfigurable hardware blocks (as used in Radio applications).
Demonstrators
A set of demonstrators and case studies is in the process of being built to experiment the SPICES technologies and process. These demonstrators reuse existing artefacts of Industrial partners involved in their realisations. We want to stress out that evaluation of the SPICES technologies by the industrial partners will be done on use-cases having real-life complexity. This is done accordingly to the fact that some special importance for the tools developed in the project is to scale nicely with complexity.
The expected resulting advantages are:
- enhanced impact brought to tool providers, since tools will be evaluated in the complex settings of real systems,
- firmer views for integration of the tools and techniques in industrial partners processes, since no additional study about scaling from nominal to complex situations will be needed.