| Duration | 4 days. |
| Objective | To provide students with a sound understanding of the principles and process for building Platform-Independent Models using UML, with a focus on military aerospace applications. To allow students to perform large-scale integration of such models to form a coherent set of components to use as the basis for platform-specific design and implementation. |
| Audience | System Designers, Software Designers, Testers, Quality Assurance |
| Prerequisites | None. |
| Benefits | The course content covers the key elements of UML as a platform-independent modelling formalism, and incorporates examples drawn from military aerospace systems to illustrate how the various models are constructed. Students will consolidate their understanding through a series of practical exercises and examples, mostly based upon military aerospace systems. |
Full Synopsis
| The MDA Process | This gives an overall picture of the MDA process, and the primary artefacts produced during that process. |
| Use Case modelling | This section illustrates how use case analysis can be used to draw out and organise system requirements. An avionics system is used to illustrate the principles. This system is used as the basis for exercises in which students build all key UML artifacts. |
| Static Models | This deals with all aspects of modelling classes, associations, generalisations and attributes, using a variety of exercises. The UML Class Diagram Is the primary notation used. |
| Domain Partitioning | This explains the principles of partitioning a system into separate domains, and provides proven techniques for finding and defining a coherent set of domains. The UML Package Diagram is introduced as a means of representing the domains and their dependencies. |
| Interaction modelling | This illustrates use of communication models to understand and document the interactions between classes within each domain. |
| Dynamic Models | This covers the process of defining operations and state charts for the classes in each domain. It emphasises the importance of establishing the overall interaction pattern using UML Collaboration Diagrams prior to construction of the individual state charts. |
| Execution Rules of xUML | This explains the levels of concurrency provided by objects with state machines in platform-independent xUML models, and how signals passed between the state machines are processed. |
| The MDA Process | This brings out the benefits of executable modelling using the Model Driven Architecture Strategy. It introduces the MDA terminology, and contrasts this approach with the more traditional elaborative methodologies. |
| Action Definition | This describes how to specify state actions and operations using the Action Specification Language (ASL). This language is at an appropriate level of abstraction for the object models and enables the execution of the models. |
| Domain Integration | This covers various strategies for integrating a system of domains (or Platform Independent Models). It introduces domain interfaces and bridges within the context of a build set. |
| Sequence Diagrams | This shows how sequence diagrams form the basis for linking use cases to a set of domains making up a system. |
| Model Based Testing | This explains how use cases can form the basis of requirement traceability and test case specification. It illustrates how to create an automated set of regression tests to be applied to the UML models. |
| Code Generation | This provides an overview of the basic principles used for generation of platform-specific implementations from platform independent models. |
| Summary | Brings together the key aspects of MDA and UML, and provides references to additional information. |