EECE 276

Embedded Systems
Documentation techniques
A case study

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 1

 Overall document structure
Introduction What?
Purpose Why?
Scope Scope of system
Definitions, Acronyms, Abbreviations Lists
References Standards, etc.
Overview
Overall Description Big picture
Product Perspective Interfaces
Product Functions What It does
User Characteristics User categories
Constraints Limitations
Assumptions and Dependencies
Specific Requirements External interfaces, main classes,
performance, timing
Appendices

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 2

 Traffic Light Control System
From textbook
(Laplante ’04)

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 3

 Traffic Light Control System
From textbook
(Laplante ’04)

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 4

 Traffic Light Control System
From textbook
(Laplante ’04)
Overall
Description

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 5

 Traffic Light Control System
Product Perspective Product functions
System Interfaces User characteristics
User interfaces Pedestrians
Hardware interfaces Motor vehicles
Software interfaces Traffic Regulatory Personnel
Communication interfaces System Administrators
Memory constraints Constraints
Operations Regulatory policy
Network protocols…
Assumptions
SI units
Commercial RTOS
…

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 6

 Traffic Light Control System
From textbook
(Laplante ’04)
Hardware
Interfaces

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 7

 Traffic Light Control System
From textbook
(Laplante ’04)
Specific
requirements:
Top-level use-
case diagram

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 8

 Traffic Light Control System
From textbook
(Laplante ’04)
Specific
requirements:
Preliminary class
diagram

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 9

 Traffic Light Control System
From textbook
(Laplante ’04)
Specific
requirements:
Sample class
description

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 10

 Traffic Light Control System
From textbook
(Laplante ’04)
Specific
requirements:
Statechart for
controller
sequence

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 11

 Traffic Light Control System
From textbook
(Laplante ’04)
Specific
requirements:
Timing
requirements

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 12

 Summary
O Requirement analysis is critical for good
system design
» Errors made here are very hard to rectify later
O Structured techniques are available
» Small-scale: FSM, Statechart, Petri-Net
» Large-scale: Functional, OOAD
O Requirement documents capture essential
information
» Format and content are often regulated by
government agencies (FAA, DoD, NASA)

EECE 276 – Embedded Systems 13