To help achieve its product development goals, the leading motor drives manufacturer, Control Techniques (CT) has adopted Artisan Studio, the UML and SysML compliant real-time systems and software modelling tool suite from Artisan Software Tools, to underpin its embedded software development process for future projects. “We have set exacting requirements for our embedded software development environment and, as a consequence, they have been quite difficult to meet,” says CTs’ control systems design manager, Mike Cade. “Artisan Studio fitted our needs on several counts.”
CT wanted to access the productivity benefits that a standards-based real-time modelling tool could offer, but it also wanted one that was flexible enough to adapt to its existing code generation standards and practices. “We have been able to mould Artisan Studio to reflect the way we work, customising the code generation process so that it adheres to the company’s coding standards,” explains Mr Cade. “Furthermore, we have been able to add compiler-specific options via the embedded software models that pass directly into the code.”
Artisan Studio also addressed another of CTs’ issues – that of keeping its embedded software up-to-date with the design changes to its intelligent electronic drives. “Artisan Studio maintains synchronisation of model and code throughout the development cycle,” says Mr Cade. “With the automatic code generation capability, we know that, at any point in time, the model is a true view of the code and vice versa.”
Artisan Studio has been the UML/SysML modelling tool of choice in the aerospace and defence world but it is now increasingly being transferred to other vertical markets like control and automation. The software enables teams of developers to visualise, design and validate complex mission critical systems before building them, and simplifies implementation with code generation and software reuse. It is highly scalable and can improve productivity on both small and large projects.
Studio’s underlying metamodel and repository technology provide a stable, robust working environment, ensuring fast availability of model information, while securing all valuable data. Using the software’s powerful extensions, designers can model architectural frameworks, systems and software as well as document legacy systems for the complete project lifecycle from start to finish.