Requirements analysis and design of a distributed architecture for the Computer Aided Prototyping System (CAPS)

Abstract

The Computer Aided Prototyping System (CAPS) developed at the Naval Postgraduate School is a powerful Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tool for examining requirements and timing constraints for hard real time systems. However, it remains a stand alone system. Even if it is running on machines in multiple locations, there is no way to coordinate the efforts between the different locations. In today's software development environment, that proves to be a significant disadvantage. Additionally, providing support for more than just hard real time software development would tremendously enhance CAPS. Our analysis details the requirements needed to make a distributed CAPS feasible. A distributed CAPS functioning over a network in a coordinated manner would be an invaluable asset to those developing software today, especially in the Department of Defense (DOD). Our work also produced an initial design architecture based on a three tiered client server model and utilizing Java and the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). The Java/CORBA combination greatly simplifies deploying a distributed CAPS over any heterogeneous network. Our preliminary implementation of CAPS with a NT client and a Solaris server demonstrates the efficacy of this design.