UML Profiles for Modeling Real-Time Communication Protocols

Validation of non-functional and functional properties of these protocols during the early stages of design and development is important to reduce cost resulting from protocol anomalies, design errors like deadlock or livelock situations and/or violations of time constraints. The MDD approach promises a well-adapted formalism to bridge real-time protocol complexities and time to market pressure. UML with its several diagrams, supports techniques to overcome the aforementioned complexities. It also supports quantitative analysis through its real-time profiles. This paper reviews the most important real-time UML profiles which can be used for designing time-critical Industrial Communication Protocols (ICPs).