From model to requirements: Pattern-based analysis in distributed development of embedded systems

As design complexity of embedded systems raises with each new technology generation, development becomes a more and more challenging task for a single manufacturer or system house. To counter this, we see a continuing trend to spread development over several companies with differing core competencies. This is either done by purchasing ready made IP blocks or by setting up a distributed design process. For both approaches, the system designer has to designate a sufficient specification for the components externally supplied, to ensure proper functionality after system integration. To support the designer in this task, we propose pattern-based analysis of a central structural system model. We present an approach to derive inter-system dependencies of design properties by model transformation, which allows the efficient use of analysis and verification tools in early design stages. This enables easy specification validation.