A Statechart Generation Method for Specification of Embedded Software by Deciding State Hierarchy Procedure

Abstract

To reduce the product development period of embedded software, one effective approach is review and validation of product specifications at an early stage of the design. One method of doing this is to describe Statechart (Harel's state transition diagram) of the specifications. However, design methods of Statechart have not yet been established. The article proposes a method of making states hierarchical in Statechart. To make states hierarchical, we created Deciding State Hierarchy Matrix that expresses relation among states, and transformed a matrix into three types of Complete Form Matrix. Besides we propose an algorithm to transform into Complete Form Matrix.
We have applied the proposed method to a development of control software for a prototype of airconditioning equipment. The preparation of the Statecharts for that equipment demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach.