Formally-based Model-Driven Development of Collaborative Robotic Applications

The development of Human Robot Collaborative (HRC) systems faces many challenges. First, HRC systems should be adaptable and re-configurable to support fast production changes. However, in the development of HRC applications safety considerations are of paramount importance, as much as classical activities such as task programming and deployment. Hence, the reconfiguration and reprogramming of executing tasks might be necessary also to fulfill the desired safety requirements. Model-based software engineering is a suitable means for agile task programming and reconfiguration. We propose a model-based design-to-deployment toolchain that simplifies the routine of updating or modifying tasks. This toolchain relies on (i) UML profiles for quick model design, (ii) formal verification for exhaustive search for unsafe situations (caused by intended or unintended human behavior) within the model, and (iii) trans-coding tools for automating the development process. The toolchain has been evaluated on a few realistic case studies. In this paper, we show a couple of them to illustrate the applicability of the approach.

On the automation-supported derivation of domain-specific UML profiles considering static semantics

In the light of standardization, the model-driven engineering (MDE) is becoming increasingly important for the development of DSLs, in addition to traditional approaches based on grammar formalisms. Metamodels define the abstract syntax and static semantics of a DSL and can be created by using the language concepts of the Meta Object Facility (MOF) or by defining a UML profile.Both metamodels and UML profiles are often provided for standardized DSLs, and the mappings of metamodels to UML profiles are usually specified informally in natural language, which also applies for the static semantics of metamodels and/or UML profiles, which has the disadvantage that ambiguities can occur, and that the static semantics must be manually translated into a machine-processable language.To address these weaknesses, we propose a new automated approach for deriving a UML profile from the metamodel of a DSL. One novelty is that subsetting or redefining metaclass attributes are mapped to stereotype attributes whose values are computed at runtime via automatically created OCL expressions. The automatic transfer of the static semantics of a DSL to a UML profile is a further contribution of our approach. Our DSL Metamodeling and Derivation Toolchain (DSL-MeDeTo) implements all aspects of our proposed approach in Eclipse. This enabled us to successfully apply our approach to the two DSLs Test Description Language (TDL) and Specification and Description Language (SDL).

A STRUCTURE OF UML PROFILES FOR MODELLING OF GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION IN GIS, ITS AND BIM

This study aims to improve the interoperability between models of geospatial information from the applications domains of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and Building Information Models (BIM). A state-of-the-art analysis showed that the Unified Modelling Language (UML) and Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) are used for modelling information in a geospatial context in all three domains, but with different approaches and levels of formality. A structure of formal UML profiles for modelling of geospatial information in GIS, ITS and BIM is suggested and tested for implementation. The Core Geospatial Profile (GCP) and general encoding profiles for the Geography Markup Language (GML) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL) are based on adapted concepts from ISO/TC 211 standards. Community specific profiles for conceptual models and encodings are based on UML profiles and the use of UML for specific information models in the three application domains. The studies and related research showed that the structure of UML profiles could be implemented and used for information modelling in the UML software Enterprise Architect and that existing profiles and information models could be adapted into the framework. Integration of information models in a common approach based on MDA and UML establishes a fundament for improved interoperability through a shared understanding of the digital representation of the real world.

Automatic generation of UML profile graphical editors for Papyrus

UML profiles offer an intuitive way for developers to build domain-specific modelling languages by reusing and extending UML concepts. Eclipse Papyrus is a powerful open-source UML modelling tool which supports UML profiling. However, with power comes complexity, implementing non-trivial UML profiles and their supporting editors in Papyrus typically requires the developers to handcraft and maintain a number of interconnected models through a loosely guided, labour-intensive and error-prone process. We demonstrate how metamodel annotations and model transformation techniques can help manage the complexity of Papyrus in the creation of UML profiles and their supporting editors. We present Jorvik, an open-source tool that implements the proposed approach. We illustrate its functionality with examples, and we evaluate our approach by comparing it against manual UML profile specification and editor implementation using a non-trivial enterprise modelling language (Archimate) as a case study. We also perform a user study in which developers are asked to produce identical editors using both Papyrus and Jorvik demonstrating the substantial productivity and maintainability benefits that Jorvik delivers.

Combining UML Profiles to Design Serious Games Dedicated to Trace Information in Decision Processes

An expert assessment consists of an ordered series of decisions that have to respond to time-evolving information contexts. Improving decisions made in a risk context requires better knowledge of reasoning mechanisms. The authors think that serious games can constitute a rich observatory for reasoning and decisions. However, the design of these games is not trivial and is rarely scalable or reusable. This paper proposes a UML profile library for generically modeling expert reasoning in situations using serious games that involve risks. Two main UML profiles are dedicated to both serious games and gamer decisions traceability modeling. Complementary profiles address risk expert reasoning modeling and data quality modeling. The authors illustrate the approach using the design of a serious game about avalanche risk analysis.

Development of Mobile Cloud Applications using UML

With the proliferation of cloud computing technologies, smartphone users are able to use a variety of cloud computing-based mobile services such as games, education, entertainment, and social networking. Despite the popularity of such a mobile cloud computing, the complicated multi-tier system configuration of the mobile application must be one of the major impediments to develop mobile cloud applications. This paper presents development processes and procedures for developing mobile cloud applications by effectively applying Unified Modeling Language (UML), a representative object-oriented modeling language. The paper is intended to enhance the development productivity of the mobile cloud application and to improve the effectiveness of communication between software developers. In addition, we used the Android mobile platform and Amazon Web Service for cloud computing in order to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach to systematically apply the UML profiles and diagrams for cloud-based mobile applications.