On the deployment problem of embedded systems

The quality of today's embedded systems e. g. in vehicles, airplanes, or automation plants is highly influenced by their architecture. In this context, we study the so-called deployment problem. The question is where (i. e., on which execution unit) to deploy which software application or which sensor/actuator shall be connected to which device in an automation plant. First, we introduce a domain-specific constraint and optimization language fitting the needs of our partners. Second, we investigate different approaches to tackle the deployment problem even for industrial size systems. Therefore, we present different solving strategies using (i) multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, (ii) SMT-based, and (iii) ILP-based solving approaches. Furthermore, a combination of the first two is used. We investigate the proposed methods and demonstrate their feasibility using two realistic systems: a civil flight control system (FCS), and a seawater desalination plant.