On the Model-based Documentation of Knowledge Sources in the Engineering of Embedded Systems

In the development of embedded systems the context is of vital importance, as embedded systems interact with the context through sensing and actuation. Information about the system’s context is contained within different knowledge sources and must be elicited and negotiated during embedded systems development. Examples for such knowledge sources may be: laws, standards, internal process specification, systems in operation as well as stakeholders. Modelbased documentation of these knowledge sources supports the analysis of the context (e.g. to aid in prioritizing of requirements, to resolve conflicts between knowledge sources, to trace the impact of changes in the context towards the system, or to gain certification of safety-critical systems). Most approaches dealing with knowledge sources are limited to elicitation and negotiation, but lack proper documentation techniques. Therefore, this paper sketches an approach that addresses the documentation of the context of knowledge, to make knowledge about the sources of contextual information comprehensibly persistent. The corresponding models of the contexts of knowledge can e.g. be used to structure the processes of requirements elicitation and context analysis.