Exception and interrupt modeling in UML 2.0 sequence diagrams for embedded software development

Abstract

Developments of embedded software are getting more attentions by researchers and developers as the size and complexity of embedded software grow. In behavior modeling with UML, a modeler prefers the sequence diagrams to the statemachine diagrams. UML 2.0 sequence diagrams have rich and powerful notations as a result of incorporating several modeling features for designing embedded software. However, they are insufficient to model behaviors of embedded software fully and completely. In this thesis, we propose new notations for handling exceptions and interrupts in the UML 2.0 sequence diagrams. We also generate Java code from the sequence diagrams according to the rules. It is difficult to describe interrupts and exceptions in UML 2.0 sequence diagrams because there are not suitable notations for them. However, with extended sequence diagrams, exceptions and interrupts are described easily. We compare our extended sequence diagrams with sequence diagrams in UML 2.0. We believe that our extended sequence diagrams make the behavior model simple and easy to read when describing the handlings of exceptions and interrupts.