UML 2.

0 - Overview and Perspectives in SoC Design

Tim Schattkowsky
University of Paderborn/C-LAB
Paderborn, Germany

Abstract in the later 90s. UML 1.x essentially combined elements

from Booch [1], OOSE [3] and OMT [9]. Furthermore, it
The design productivity gap requires more efficient was influenced by the ROOM method that later evolved
design methods. Software systems have faced the same into UML-RT [10], a real-time profile for UML. At
challenge and seem to have mastered it with the present, the UML 2.0 specification is on its way to
introduction of more abstract design methods. The UML finalization by the OMG. UML 2.0 includes significant
has become the standard for software systems modeling enhancements in all areas. It covers 13 diagram types to
and thus the foundation of new design methods. Although describe various structural, behavioral and physical
the UML is defined as a general purpose modeling aspects of a system.
language, its application to hardware and The different diagrams serve different purposes during
hardware/software codesign is very limited. In order to the development process. It is important to note that the
successfully apply the UML at these fields, it is essential UML only provides a multi purpose notation that needs to
to understand its capabilities and to map it to a new be accompanied by a development process. This process
domain. defines the actual application variants of a particular UML
diagram type.
1. Introduction The Class Diagram is probably the most well known
diagram. It describes structural aspects of a system in
Today, electronic systems design has to cope with
terms of classes and associations between those classes. A
shortened product cycles and steadily increasing system
class may have attributes and operations. Furthermore,
complexity that are not yet complemented by a
interfaces and generalizations can be used to create object
comparable increase in design productivity. Thus, the
oriented type hierarchies. Instances of a Class Diagram
design productivity gap has become one of the most
are called an Object Diagram and describe how individual
important problems in electronic systems design. Design
class instances (objects) are related.
methods allowing for increased abstraction as well as
Package Diagrams can be used to define packages,
better reuse and integration of IPs are necessary to cope
which provide just a little more than a namespace for
with this challenge.
classes that can be composed from other packages and
The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been
new classes.
successfully applied in software systems engineering as
Behavioral specification in the UML at the highest
well as in some other domains. It has the capabilities to be
level often starts by the identification of the use cases for
applied to the design of hardware systems as well. This
a system described in terms of involved actors. This is
also promises an easy path to hardware/software codesign
depicted in Use Case Diagrams. However, detailed
through integration with existing practice in software
behavioral specifications usually rely on State Machine
design. Furthermore, the notation has to be integrated with
Diagrams that represent the UML StateChart [2] variant
a design process to get a complete design method like in
and Activity Diagrams for describing control oriented
MDA. However, it is first necessary to understand, which
behavior (e.g., in states of a State Machine Diagram).
capabilities the UML provides and how these can be
UML 2.0 introduces token semantics for these Activity
employed in EDA design flows.
Diagrams that move them semantically close to high-level
Petri Nets. Furthermore, Interaction diagrams can be used
2. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) to model interactions as traces of exchanged messages.
The UML is a general purpose modeling language that These diagrams come in no less than four flavors
marks the result of the unification of elements from three including the Sequence Diagram, which has been
of the most significant object oriented design approaches

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 extended in UML 2.0 to be comparable to an SDL quite a lot in common. At a reasonable level of
Message Sequence Chart (MSC). abstraction, both already have similar structural (e.g.,
Finally, the Component Diagram and the Deployment software components and IP cores) and behavioral models
Diagram can be used to describe the composition and (e.g., StateCharts, Petri Nets). Application of UML to
physical deployment of a system. hardware systems promises to close the design gap
Together, those diagrams can be used to provide a between hardware and software systems by providing
detailed model of a complete system at various levels of inherent interfaces that should lead to full
abstraction (e.g., starting from use cases down to activities interchangeability between hardware and software.
describing every detail of a certain behavior). Furthermore, the early prototyping and inherent software
However, the UML just provides a general notation simulation capabilities of such an approach are appealing,
that fits many purposes. It must be tailored to be as they promise cost and time savings. Finally, the
effectively applied to a certain domain. The relevant application of the MDA concept also to hardware finally
model elements of the UML need to be identified and may promises large scale reuse and portability.
be refined into a set of domain specific subtypes. This is However, while the UML is by definition a general
achieved using a UML profile that defines a relevant purpose modeling language, it cannot be instantly applied
domain-specific UML subset with semantic extensions for to hardware design. As it is just a notation, meaning must
the supported model elements. On example for such be given to all the relevant language elements. It is
profiles is the aforementioned UML-RT profile. necessary to the tailor the UML in a way that the domain
Thus, to apply UML to SoC design, it is important to specific significant requirements like seamless integration
define such a domain specific subset of the UML and its of existing IP can be met.
semantics as well as the diagram types to be used. Thus, the real world things that need to be represented
have to be identified and consistently put into the right
3. Model Driven Architecture (MDA) context as UML model elements. The relation between the
concepts used in the UML and real circuits has to be
The OMG MDA is essentially based on providing clarified. For example, the notion of class, object and
system specifications as a Platform Independent Model component have to be aligned in this context and the
(PIM), which is to be more or less automatically structural semantics of operations need to be defined.
transformed to a Platform Specific Model (PSM) for a Furthermore, the application of the different diagrams
different platform using a platform-specific mapping. This in the design process needs to be clarified. Many ideas
can be regarded as an enhancement to platform-based can be derived from the existing methods for software and
design. Both models are UML models at different levels hardware design. In the context of MDA, the integration
of abstraction. The Platform Specific Model is then used with a design process can be achieved.
for complete code generation. However, how these steps
are accomplished is up to the actual MDA tool.
References
There already exist methods that follow the MDA
approach. The Executable UML (xUML) approach [8] [1] Booch, G.: Object-Oriented Analysis and Design, with
includes a complete development methodology. It is based Applications (2nd ed.), Benjamin/Cummings, 1994
[2] Harel, D., Namaad, A.: The STATEMATE Semantics of
on the Action Specification Language (ASL), which is
Statecharts. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering
essential as it describes notation and semantics for single and Methodology, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1996.
actions like operation calls and assignments in UML [3] Jacobson, I.: Object-Oriented Software Engineering: A Use
models and thus closes the last gap to complete system Case Driven Approach. Addison Wesley, 1992.
specification. ASL has been integrated into the OMG- [4] Mellor, S.J., Balcer, M.J.: Executable UML - A Foundation
adopted UML Standard for precise action semantics [5] for Model-Driven Architecture Addison-Wesley, 2002.
and is also used in the eXecutable and Translatable UML [5] The Object Management Group: Action Semantics for the
approach (XTUML) which has been developed by Project UML. OMG ad/2000-08-04, 2000.
Technology based on Mellor’s approach to executable [6] The Object Management Group: Model Driven
Architecture (MDA). OMG ormsc/2001-07-01, 2001.
UML [4]. Both approaches use code generators to
[7] The Object Management Group: Unified Modeling
produce the actual implementations from the UML Language: Superstructure. OMG ad/2003-08-01, 2003.
models. However, the application of such code generation [8] Raistrick, C., Francis, P., Wright, J.: Model Driven
for hardware descriptions still needs to be demonstrated. Architecture with Executable UML. Cambridge University
Press, 2004.
4. Perspectives for SoC Design [9] Rumbaugh, J., et al.: Object-Oriented Modeling and
Design, Prentice Hall, New York, 1991.
The UML is quite appealing for application in [10] Selic, B., Rumbaugh, J.: Using UML for Modeling
hardware design, as digital hardware and software have Complex Real-Time Systems, 1998.

Proceedings of the Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition (DATE’05)
1530-1591/05 $ 20.00 IEEE