A brief comparison of real-time software design methods

Abstract

This paper briefly attempts to compare several mainstream methods/methodologies that are used for the analysis and design of real time systems. These are i) CORE, ii) YSM, iii) MASCOT, iv) CODARTS, v) HOOD, vi) ROOM, vii) UML, viii) UML-RT. Methods i-iii are use a data driven approach, whilst methods iv-vii use an object-oriented approach. All these methods have their advantages and disadvantages. Thus it is difficult to decide which method is best suited to a particular real-time design situation. Some methods like YSM, MASCOT and CODARTS are more oriented towards designing event driven systems and reactive behavior. Object oriented methods like the UML have many diagrams obtained from other methods. In the first part of the paper each method is briefly presented and its main features are explained. In the second part a score based ranking is used to try to identify which method has the best overall characteristics for real time development. The final results are presented in a tabular form and using a bar chart. In addition to this it is explained how each method fits in the SDLC. Both the score of each method and how it fits in the SDLC must be considered when selecting methods. To conclude some other issues are explained, because the selection of one method does not automatically imply that there will not be any problems.