Investigating the Model-Driven Development for Systems-of-Systems

Abstract

Software-intensive systems have become increasingly large and complex and new techniques and methodologies are necessary to deal with such complexity. Model-Driven Development (MDD) has been used to deal with complex scenarios, since software models, despite details, facilitate the visualization of the whole. Moreover, MDD has been widely recognized as a way to assure quality, reducing time and effort, and making possible the automatic transformation of models to generate source code. In this direction, software-intensive Systems-of-Systems (SoS) is a class of software systems that have emerged over the iminence of large systems which have a high-level of complexity. Considering the success of MDD in other areas, we decided to investigate how MDD has been used in the context of SoS. This paper presents results of a Systematic Literature Review conducted to scrutinize and bring to light the state of the art in the field of MDD for SoS. Besides that, we discuss future research directions and perspectives, aiming at contributing to the development of SoS.

Quality in model-driven engineering: a tertiary study

“…Eight of those secondary studies use an ad hoc assessment, with custom-made criteria tailored for the specific domain those reviews are covering (Delgado et al 2013;Domínguez et al 2012;Giachetti et al 2012;Giraldo et al 2014;Hansson et al 2014;Misbhauddin and Alshayeb 2015;Mohagheghi and Dehlen 2008;Santiago et al 2012). Neto et al (2014) used guidelines (Kitchenham and Charters 2007) for the quality assessment of the included primary studies.…”

“…Some extra findings are discussed such as to manage changeability and complexity of large and complex models, keep them consistent, and verify quality on the model level that are challenges in model-driven engineering that are not yet properly covered. Neto et al (2014) address the usage of MDE in the development of systems of systems (SoS). The authors found that UML and OCL are the most frequently reported languages used in this context.…”

A simulation-driven model-based approach for designing software-intensive systems-of-systems architectures

“…Literature was reviewed to identify the gaps about specification and evaluation of SoS software architecture models, and to elicit existent mechanisms, methods, models, and approaches in the state of the art about MB approaches for SoS. Results were published in a workshop paper (GRACIANO NETO et al, 2014). During the review, we identified that the application of MB methods in SoS engineering were still embryonic and could be further exploited (STEINHOGL, 2015).…”

“…Model-Based Software Engineering (MBSE) has been recommended as a response to those demands, as it comprises a software development approach that prescribes models to capture knowledge acquired from the domain, supporting the specification required for evaluation purposes (RAMOS; FERREIRA; BARCELO, 2012; RAMOS; FERREIRA; BARCELO, INCOSE, 2016). MBSE also prescribes model transformations for automating the generation of software code from abstract models, taming complexity and enabling the processing of SoS properties for specification, evaluation, verification, and validation purposes (GRACIANO NETO et al, 2014;FALKNER et al, 2016). Moreover, MBSE can also make models executable, i.e., they support the management of dynamic aspects visualized at runtime.…”

“…Chapter 2 addresses the state of the art of MBSE for SoS, an overview of the foundations on which this thesis has been built, terminology and key concepts and results of the systematic literature review conducted. The results published in (GRACIANO NETO et al, 2014) were updated to be included in the thesis.…”