EAST-ADL

EAST -ADL ( Electronics Architecture and Software Technology - Architecture Description Language ) is a modeling language in the automotive industry. It goes beyond the pure software modeling in addition the system modeling. It was developed in the framework of two EU research projects and first published in 2004.

The main goal of EAST -ADL is to provide a language for the unambiguous description of software-intensive embedded electronic systems in the automobile and to allow the creation of models, supporting the design, analysis or presentation of system behavior.

EAST -ADL defines four successive abstraction levels:

  • Feature (Vehicle ) plane
  • Analysis level
  • Design level
  • Implementation level

Acceptance of EAST -ADL in the automotive industry

Although the modeling with EAST -ADL addressed many important aspects in vehicle development, is the practical acceptance in the automotive industry low ( as of 2010). The major automobile manufacturers (OEMs) pursue their own approaches and do not participate in the definition of EAST -ADL.

Since EAST -ADL is derived from UML, one needs to model knowledge of UML and their properties (classes, stereotypes, etc.). In automotive engineers there, despite an increasing number of computer scientists and software developers with a very large number of specialists from other disciplines ( engineering, hardware developers, process experts, etc. ) who prefer other approaches. This is especially so critical because EAST -ADL is to enable collaboration among different groups of people.

Modeling Tools and File Format

Currently (as of 2010 ) there are hardly any commercial UML tools with the support of EAST -ADL. The only tool with EAST- ADL2 support is Papyrus UML, which was created as part of the project as ATESST Konzeptdemonstrator. There are also some tools with the support of older EAST- ADL1 version of 2004. There are no announcements about an update to EAST -ADL version 2 of these tools. Furthermore, there is no standardized data exchange format, the EAST -ADL models can be exchanged among different types of tool.

Systems Modeling Language
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