Agile Model-Driven Engineering in Mechatronic Systems - An Industrial Case Study

Abstract

Abstract. Model-driven engineering focuses on structuring systems as well as permitting domain experts to be directly involved in the software development. Agile methods aim for fast feedback and providing crucial knowledge early in the project. In our study, we have seen a successful combination of MDE and agile methods to support the development of complex, software-driven mechatronic systems. We have investigated how combining MDE and agile methods can reduce the number of issues caused by erroneous assumptions in the software of these mechatronic systems. Our results show that plant models to simulate mechanical systems are needed to enable agile MDE during the mechatronic development. They enable developers to run, verify, and validate models before the mechanical systems are delivered from suppliers. While two case studies conducted at Volvo Car Group confirm that combining MDE and agile works, there are still challenges e.g. how to optimize the development of plant models.

Impediments to Introducing Continuous Integration for Model-Based Development in Industry

“…In particular, the authors have argued for more reports on industrial experiences. One such study focused on introducing agile practices in modelling projects in the automotive industry [10], although not including CI yet, the authors do report a successful application of agile methods. Similarly, a case study in the telecommunications domain has shown benefits of agile MBD [9], although it minimally discusses the extent to which this practice includes continuous integration.…”

“…This entails multiple developers using models as core artifacts for development and frequently integrating new versions of these models into a shared repository. In our experience, industrial adoption of this combination of practices is low, despite several evaluations showing its potential benefits [9], [10]. More specifically than agile, combining CI and MBD is also identified as a promising practice towards increased development productivity [11], [12].…”

Interview Study on the Agile Development of Mechatronic Systems

“…The focus here is mostly on software projects (Moe et al, 2010;Melo et al, 2013) in which the potentials and challenges (Estler et al, 2014) of Scrum are examined in different scaling levels (Bjarnason et al, 2011). Although the number of case studies in the field of mechatronic system development is much lower (Eklund and Berger, 2017;Eliasson et al, 2014), agility is also becoming increasingly important in the development of physical products. In a student development project, for example, it was shown that as the project progresses and the product matures, prototyping should increasingly address the technical implementation of features in depth, while at the same time optimizing and extending features should be carried out.…”

Continuous Integration Beyond the Team

“…To be able to obtain quicker feedback in the automotive industry, Model Driven Engineering (MDE) has become popular [12,7]. Executable models, in the form of Simulink models, are utilized to introduce feedback early in the development process.…”