A trace model for system requirements changes on embedded systems

ABSTRACT Technical systems play an important role in our daily lives. Most systems have to be changed during their lifetime, but cost estimates of changes are often inaccurate and implementation of changes is time consuming and cost intensive. Planning and performing changes can be supported by precise impact analysis. Traditionally, impact analysis has been something that software professionals do intuitively, after some cursory examination of code and documentation. But, empirical investigation shows that even experienced software professionals predict incomplete sets of change impacts. This paper introduces an approach that focuses on impact analysis of system requirements changes and that is suited for embedded control systems. The approach is based on a fine-grained trace model. Empirical studies show that the approach allows a more effective impact analysis of changes on embedded systems.