The Architecture Analysis & Design Language (AADL) is an

architecture description language Architecture description languages (ADLs) are used in several disciplines: system engineering, software engineering, and enterprise modelling and engineering. The system engineering community uses an architecture description language as a langua ...

standardized by

SAE SAE or Sae may refer to: Science and technology : * Selective area epitaxy, local growth of epitaxial layer through a patterned dielectric mask deposited on a semiconductor substrate * Serious adverse event, in a clinical trial * Simultaneous Auth ...

. AADL was first developed in the field of

avionics Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, ...

, and was known formerly as the Avionics Architecture Description Language. The Architecture Analysis & Design Language is derived from MetaH, an architecture description language made by the Advanced Technology Center of

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

. AADL is used to model the

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

and hardware architecture of an embedded,

real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...

system. Due to its emphasis on the embedded domain, AADL contains constructs for modeling both software and hardware components (with the hardware components named "execution platform" components within the standard). This architecture model can then be used either as a design documentation, for analyses (such as schedulability and flow control) or for code generation (of the software portion), like

UML The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose, developmental modeling language in the field of software engineering that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system. The creation of UML was originally m ...

AADL ecosystem

AADL is defined by a core language that defines a single notation for both system and software aspects. Having a single model eases the analysis tools by having only one single representation of the system. The language specifies system-specific characteristics using properties. The language can be extended with the following methods: * user-defined properties: user can extend the set of applicable properties and add their own to specify their own requirements * language annexes: the core language is enhanced by annex languages that enrich the architecture description. For now, the following annexes have been defined. ** Behavior annex: add components behavior with state machines ** Error-model annex: specifies fault and propagation concerns ** ARINC653 annex: defines modelling patterns for modelling avionics system ** Data-Model annex: describes the modelling of specific data constraint with AADL

AADL tools

AADL is supported by a wide range of tools:
OSATE
includes a modeling platform, a graphical viewer and a constraint query languages * Ocarina, an AADL toolchain for generating code from models
TASTE toolchain
supported by the

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A complete list of the tool set can be found on th
AADL public wiki

Related projects

AADL has been used for the following research projects:
AVSI/SAVI
an initiative that leverages AADL (among other languages) to perform virtual integration of aerospace and defense systems
META
a DARPA project for improving software engineering methods * PARSEC: a French initiative to validate and implement avionics systems from architecture models * TASTE: a platform for designing safety-critical systems from models A complete list of the past and current projects/initiatives can not be found on th
AADL public wiki
because it has been retired. No replacement has been provided as of Dec 2020.

References

External links

AADL.info

AADL tools

AADL at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Paris (ENST)

AADL performance analysis with Cheddar, Univ. of Brest (real time scheduling and queueing system analysis)

Industrial project support using Stood for AADL

AADL In Practice, a book dedicated to the use of the languages and its related modeling tools
{{DEFAULTSORT:Architecture Analysis and Design Language Systems architecture Architecture description language Software modeling language Modeling languages