An Embedded Control Software Development Environment with Data Consistency Verification for Preemptive Multi Task Systems

Abstract

The paper presents an embedded control software development environment that provides a tool to verify the data consistency of embedded control software designed with Simulink models and UML models. A controller model is built with MATLAB/Simulink in the control logic design phase. Then a software model that correctly executes the control logic in the actual computing environment is built in the software design phase. It must be verified during software design that the data consistency of the software is preserved in the preemptive multitask environment because the simulation of Simulink models is performed in an ideal environment in which "zero-time execution" is assumed. We present a method to verify the data consistency with SPIN model checker. We also present a tool that automatically generates Promela code for data consistency verification. We have applied the tool to a number of software models transformed from Simulink models and have confirmed its usefulness for embedded control software design.