An Experiment in Design and Analysis of Real-Time Applications

In the paper some experiences of joining two methodologies, which were originally independently developed in different institutions, with the goal to overcome the possible discrepancies due to the separate design of the hardware and the software part of an embedded real-time application are presented. Based on Multiprocessor PEARL, Specification PEARL has been developed in FERI, Maribor. Hardware and system architecture of an application can be described and gradually refined. Application software can be designed using LACATRE tool, developed at INSA, Lyon. Decisions about the application design taken in each tool have influence to the ones taken in the other, thus allowing for parallel design of both parts. Both designs are subsequently verified and eventually joined for feasibility estimation by co-simulation. The application program is coded using the ObjectPEARL language. The real-time system design cycle is closed by the execution time analysis and measurements upon which it is then considered about further program and/or hardware part reconfiguration. This feature is supported by the specific compiler, which includes the execution time analyser. The article reports on the work that was done in the framework of the PROTEUS project in co-operation of the teams from FERI Maribor, Slovenia, and INSA de Lyon, France.