Episode 122: Interview Janos Sztipanovits

Design Flow

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) require a heterogeneous design flow that integrates multiple engineering disciplines. Janos Sztipanovits emphasizes the need for flexibility in these design flows, which must accommodate software, control, and systems engineering. He explains that these flows are customized to the specific needs of each domain, such as engine control or process automation, and must include abstraction layers to express design and implementation ideas 1.

These abstraction layers give a way to express your design ideas, implementation ideas to where the other layers and you compose the overall flow along the usual step, refinement mapping across these different abstraction layers.

--- Janos Sztipanovits

This approach allows for a synthesis of different modeling languages, fostering convergence across disciplines.

   

DSLs

Domain-specific languages (DSLs) play a crucial role in creating flexible and effective design flows for CPS. Janos Sztipanovits argues that while standards like SysML aim to unify tools, the diversity of subdomains necessitates more tailored solutions 2. He highlights the challenge of balancing flexibility with reusability in design automation tools, particularly in high-risk environments like avionics, where certification is complex and costly 2.

Certification of these cyber physical systems is one of the huge challenges that the systems companies are facing.

--- Janos Sztipanovits

The need for compositionality and composability in system design further complicates the development of these tools, as they must manage the interactions between various components and disciplines 3.