Predictability in real-time system development

The large gap existing between requirements and realizations has been a pertinacious problem in complex system design. This holds in particular for real-time systems with strict timing constraints and critical-safety requirements. Designers have to rely on a multi-step design process, where design decisions are made at different modelling levels. To ensure the effectiveness of this design process, predictability should be well-supported by design approaches, allowing designers to predict properties of future design outcomes based on existing design results. In this chapter, we first discuss the role of the semantics of design languages and investigated how they can support a predictable design process. Then, the deficiencies, w.r.t. predictability support, of existing design approaches for real-time systems are illustrated by an example. Finally, a predictable design approach for real-time systems is introduced to overcome this problem.