AUTOSAR-Compliant Development Workflows: From Architecture to Implementation - Tool Interoperability for Round-Trip Engineering and Verification and Validation 2012-01-0962

AUTOSAR is on the road. Many OEMs and suppliers have established processes that are project-proven, flexible, and efficient for developing AUTOSAR-compliant applications. These development processes require a variety of tools that support requirements management, system architecture development, Model-Based Design, and verification and validation. Hence, interoperability of these tools is essential for the completion of high-quality projects on time. Building an interface from one tool to the next is often insufficient because processes for production projects are typically more complex than a top-down or bottom-up flow. However, a tool chain must support iterative development across all phases. For example, when a change in customer requirements triggers modifications to the software architecture, definitions for components, runnables, interfaces, or ports all need to be updated accordingly. Alternatively, while modeling the functional design, an engineer may realize that additional sensor data requirements can trigger a change in the software architecture.

AUTOSAR offers standardized formats that allow a consistent exchange of data between tools and development phases. To realize, test, and implement software components, software component description files can be exported from system architecture tools and imported into tools for Model-Based Design. The challenge of these processes is to ensure consistent data exchange between phases without losing or corrupting design information.

This paper describes the interoperability of tools that support Model-Based Design and are used to create software architectures. Specifically, this paper shows the mechanisms defined by AUTOSAR and capabilities to verify and validate these designs at different stages in the workflow.