An Experimental Evaluation of Design Space Exploration of Hardware/Software Interfaces

We observe ever increasing variability of hardware/software interfaces (HSIs), e.g., in automotive systems. Hence, there is a need for the reuse of already existing HSIs. In this regard, an important question is whether automated adaptation of an already existing HSI to one that fulfills the requirements on a new HSI is feasible in industrial practice. Ideally, the number of adaptation steps should be minimal, so that new hardware production can be avoided. In this paper, we address the problem of finding such an optimal solution for a given specific HSI and a set of formally specified requirements on a new HSI. We propose using design space exploration employing (heuristic) search with optimality guarantees. Hence, a meta-model of such HSIs has been created together with transformation rules. Based on all that, an experimental evaluation of this approach shows its feasibility for realistic HSIs.