Extra-Functional Properties Composability for Embedded Systems Partitioning

Paper in proceeding, 2016

Modern embedded systems utilize the advances in heterogeneous platforms that enable implementing functions in software (SW) and hardware (HW) components. A proper configuration of SW and HW components can significantly improve the values of the extra-functional properties such as performance and energy savings. However, due to increasing application complexity, it is difficult to find the best combination of HW and SW components. The problem basically boils down to calculate, for a given architecture, the system properties from the components' ones. In this paper, we address the problem of composability of EFPs at system level. Although in general this is not a solvable problem, we present that, under strictly specified constraints, it is possible to compose the system EFPs starting from the component ones. We start by detailing constraints related to the system architecture, platform and process development and, based on these constraints, we provide composition rules for different types of EFPs. We demonstrate the results through an industrial example.