Towards an automatic model transformation mechanism from UML state machines to DEVS models

Abstract

The development of complex event-driven systems requires studies and analysis prior to deployment with the goal of detecting unwanted behavior. UML is a language widely used by the software engineering community for modeling these systems through state machines, among other mechanisms. Currently, these models do not have appropriate execution and simulation tools to analyze the real behavior of systems. Existing tools do not provide appropriate libraries (sampling from a probability distribution, plotting, etc.) both to build and to analyze models. Modeling and simulation for design and prototyping of systems are widely used techniques to predict, investigate and compare the performance of systems. In particular, the Discrete Event System Specification (DEVS) formalism separates the modeling and simulation; there are several tools available on the market that run and collect information from DEVS models. This paper proposes a model transformation mechanism from UML state machines to DEVS models in the Model-Driven Development (MDD) context, through the declarative QVT Relations language, in order to perform simulations using tools, such as PowerDEVS. A mechanism to validate the transformation is proposed. Moreover, examples of application to analyze the behavior of an automatic banking machine and a control system of an elevator are presented.