QoSPL: A QoS-Driven Software Product Line Engineering Framework for Distributed Real-time and Embedded Systems

Abstract

The current synergy of Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE) and Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) requires evolution to facilitate Distributed Realtime and Embedded (DRE) system construction. Such evolution is driven by inherent Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics in DRE systems. This paper introduces a QoSdriven SPLE framework (QoSPL) as an analysis and design paradigm for constructing a set of DRE systems as a product line. Leveraging separation of concerns, DRE systems are analyzed and designed by a collection of QoS systemic paths, each of which individually determines how well the service performs along the path and as a whole represents a behavioral view of software architecture. The paradigm reduces construction workload from the problems of tangled functional and QoS requirements and abundant infeasible design alternatives, and offers a less subjective QoS evaluation. The adopted formalisms also facilitate high-confidence DRE product line construction.