Summary
AMS Radar Systems successfully uses Domain Solutions’ CodeGenie MDA toolset to develop a new range of radar control systems. ( To download complete whitepaper, Click Here )
The Client
AMS is a Joint Venture (JV) company owned equally by BAE Systems of the UK and Finmeccanica of Italy. The company is a major force in both the European defence and electronics sectors, with a turnover of over Є1.2 Billion and an established customer base in over 100 countries.
The Problem
An earlier AMS Radar Controller project had developed a robust software architecture supporting full object distribution and meeting exacting availability constraints. The architecture was model-based and made effective use of repeating object patterns. However, it had been hand-crafted, and embodied many misplaced application concepts, limiting scope for reuse. As several hardware and COTS middleware components were reaching obsolescence, the opportunity now existed to redevelop the system’s software architecture.
The new project’s primary goal was to specify, create and deploy an application-independent software architecture with which to build customisable radar controllers. A key requirement was to introduce predictability in all cost and effort estimation; essential for project planning in subsequent architecture deployment projects.
The Solution
AMS selected Domain Solutions’ CodeGenie MDA toolset due to its level of support for the OMG’s Model-Driven Architecture approach, its flexibility, and its ease of integration with existing UML modelling tools.
All Radar Controller application (UML) models were captured using the IBM/Rational Rose product according to an “executable” UML profile specified by Domain Solutions. All resultant models were exported from Rose in XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) format, and imported directly into CodeGenie. The same applied to the model-based architecture. The architecture proved comparable in size and complexity to the application model. Significantly, the architecture would prove to be an extremely versatile, reusable company asset; changeable in its own right without impacting the baselined application models.
CodeGenie first transformed the completed application models into the target architecture, then systematically translated the resultant “populated” architecture into C++ to produce the complete, running radar controller.
The Benefits
On project completion, productivity measurement indicated that building the radar controller from automated MDA reduced overall effort by approximately 50% over hand-crafting techniques. The expectation was for further reduction in development and maintenance costs as the software architecture was reused in future projects.
The model-driven development approach highlighted many additional benefits for the business. Amongst the most significant were (a) application and architecture independence, (b) the opportunity to maximise levels of application and architecture reuse, and (c) the levels of technology-shift protection that CodeGenie MDA offers.
Developers reported that they enjoyed working with a leading-edge MDA automation technology, in particular as it freed them from the tedium of hand-crafting repetitive model patterns. The customer’s contribution to the requirements analysis process greatly increased as they found the application models easy to understand and review. Managers benefited from a more formal, predictable and productive process.
The Future Plans
The goals for the AMS team now centre on delivering future radar controllers using model-driven development. An expectation is for all application models to be simulatable, permitting automated requirements validation and verification prior to system generation.
For More Information
More details on CodeGenie and the CodeGenie C++ architecture can be found at www.domainsolutions.co.uk
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