On the Design of Distributed Time-Triggered Embedded Systems

The cognitive constraints of the human mind must drive the decisions in architecture and methodology design in order that the systems we build are comprehensible. This paper presents a methodology for the design of time-triggered embedded systems that leads to understandable artifacts. We lift the design process to a higher level of abstractionto the level of computational components that interact solely by the exchange of messages. The time-triggered architecture makes it possible to specify the temporal properties of component interfaces precisely and provides temporally predictable message communication, such that the precise behavior of a large design can be studied in the early phases of a design on the basis of the component interface specifications. This paper shows how the cognitive simplification strategies of abstraction, partitioning and segmentation are supported by the time-triggered architecture and its associated design methodology to construct evolvable embedded systems that can be readily understood and modified.

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