Uml for Embedded Software Development : an Evaluation of Rhapsody

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has developed into a de facto standard for objectoriented software modeling. Its popularity is also growing for real-time and embedded systems, although the modeling of important aspects of this field has not yet been standardized. In this master’s thesis, an evaluation of the UML-based software development tool Rhapsody was performed for the Hitachi H8S/2238 micro-controller. Rhapsody is delivered with support for a number of embedded operating systems, but no operating system was used for the H8S. The evaluation was divided into a number of domains, each of which were examined within two case studies. The code generated from the UML models could be compiled and executed on the micro-controller after some modifications and with the use of a particular NoOS framework. Rhapsody, or an equivalent UML modeling tool, is recommended for embedded software development for two reasons. Firstly, positive results were found during the evaluation and secondly, the two case studies could be completed in a short time. It should, however, be noted that Rhapsody is not yet a completely mature tool, as there are a few improvements to be desired from future versions.