UML som stöd vid småskalig utveckling av ett inbyggt system
This project aims at investigating if the use of UML as a support to small-scale development ofan embedded system is relevant. The investigation is conducted by using UML during the initialphase of the development ofTelfafill, a filling machine by the company ?Telfafill AB?. The aimof the development of Telfafill is to separate the user interface from the control unit. In additionto this main objective, Telfafill AB would like possible changes to, and additions of,functionality of the filling machine to be investigated.Within the boundaries of this project, the development of Telfafill reached a full requirementspecification of the proposed system, and contact was made with potential external developers.No prototype construction had been started when the project ended. The report includes therequirement specification, and also accounts for the work of functionality development,communications evaluation and product design that has led to the specification. Account is alsogiven for the choice of not designing the prototype in-house.For using UML, the toolsArgoUML and Rhapsody in J have been used. Initially, ArgoUML wasused, but abandoned because of the greater potential for simulation in Rhapsody. Even thoughsimulation did not take place, Rhapsody continued to be used, since it had shown to be easier touse from most perspectives. Foremost, UML has been a support to the verification ofrequirements. Conflicts and pitfalls in requirement design have been avoided and it is believedthat the use of modelling has aided comprehension and understanding to a greater extend thanwould have been possible without similar methods. However, the time required to learn UMLand the chosen tool has been long, longer than can be deemed efficient for the scale of theproject.In conclusion, this example of UML-supported development has shown that the use of UML canbe well motivated in small-scale development. However this holds under the assumption thatthose who perform the development have enough knowledge of UML to limit the cost and timefor learning to an acceptable level. Also, it is necessary for the developers of small-scale systemsto adjust the ?level of model completeness? to the current project size and requirement.