DESTECS - Design Support and Tooling for Embedded Control Software

Project Dates: From January 2010 to December 2012

Project Leader: Prof. John Fitzgerald

Staff: Prof. Cliff Jones, Prof. Sascha Romanovsky, Dr. Ken Pierce

Sponsors: EC

Partners: University of Twente, Newcastle University, Engineering College of Aarhus, Controllab Products BV, CHESS BV, Neopost Technologies BV, Vaerhaert New products and Services NV

 

DESTECS willd evelop design methods and tools that bridge the gaps between the disciplines involved in designing an embedded system: systems, control, mechanical and software engineering, for example. These disciplines, which have grown up separately, base design on different forms of model - some use discrete event models, and some use continuous time - inhibiting our ability to compare design alternatives rapidly and in particular to model faults and fault tolerance mechanisms that have to cross the boundaries between models. This "design gap" leads to sub-optimal designs and long development lead times. We will develop methods and tools that that combine continuous time system models with discrete event controller models through co-simulation to allow multidisciplinary modelling, including modelling of faults and fault tolerance mechanisms. The analysis of these effects at every stage in a design process will help to build more dependable real-time embedded systems. The methods are backed up by an innovative tools platform that allows co-simulation and a strong series of industry case studies in areas as diverse as personal transportation, printing technology and space systems. More than 15 companies have joined the project's technology transfer group.