Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The proposed research project lies in the area of software engineering. It has the following two industrial partners: IBM Canada Ltd and Malina Software Corp. Software for real-time, embedded (RTE) systems has growing economic and societal significance. Advances in the state of the art in the development of RTE software are needed to allow for the development to scale both to the demands on future RTE systems and to future market conditions. Software development techniques that emphasize the use of models have the proven potential to enable substantial productivity gains in the development of RTE software. For instance, IBM, the global leader in model-driven software development (MDD) tools, is offering a successful RTE software development tool based on MDD. The goal of the project is to advance the state of the art in the Canadian industry with respect to the ability to develop RTE software using MDD. The results of the research will allow tool vendors to devise more effective RTE software development tools. In turn, the embedded systems industry will benefit from these improved tools which would allow them to build more complex RTE software with less cost. Our technical objectives are to develop innovative techniques that make it easier for tool users to build correct RTE models via improved execution and debugging capabilities and to maximize the utility of RTE models via more powerful analysis techniques. The proposal addresses key challenges faced by the industrial partners and the results will ensure the continued competitiveness in the RTE software market. The project will also provide funding for 2 Ph.D. students, 1 Postdoctoral Fellow, 2 M.Sc. students, and 2 undergraduate students.