Assuring Maintainability in Model-Driven Development of Embedded Systems

In model-driven software development as much as in classical code-driven development maintenance costs make up the bulk of the total life cycle costs of a software system. However, as development methods in MDSD differ from classical methods, assuring the maintainability of systems built with MDSD requires companies to adjust their quality assurance to work with the new paradigm and the novel type of development artefacts. As the automotive industry has already applied model-driven approaches for some time (usually in the form of Matlab/Simulink) it proves to be a fertile ground to advance assurance methods for the maintainability of model-based systems. In this chapter we describe a two-dimensional quality metamodel and present an instance that defines maintainability for MDSD with Matlab/Simulink and TargetLink. We exemplify how such a model serves as the basis of all quality assurance activities and report on experiences made in an industrial case study with one of the leading international providers of commercial vehicles and transport solutions.