Checking and Enforcement of Modeling Guidelines with Graph Transformations

In the automotive industry, the model driven development of software for embedded controller units evolves to become the standard paradigm. In this domain, the development is based on executable block diagrams and StateCharts which are provided by the commonly used tool MATLAB Simulink/Stateflow. Huge catalogues with hundreds of modeling guidelines have already been developed to increase the quality of models and ensure the safety and reliability of the generated code. Checking these guidelines and eliminating detected violations manually during audits is a tremendous amount of boring work. In this paper, we show how graph transformations can be used to automate the process of guideline checking and the execution of repair actions. Based on our experiences in an industrial context, we discuss the pros and cons of graph transformations compared to other specification approaches and we finally present a proposal how to combine graph transformations with other modeling paradigms as the most promising approach.