Software Engineering Institute

Model-based specification of embedded, critical systems (i.e., systems whose failure is deemed unacceptable) is increasingly becoming the standard of practice. However, analysis of these models can prove challenging when the models grow in size and complexity, which is common as more types and volumes of data are loaded into them. One well-studied technique for grappling with complexity in programs is slicing, where slices of programs are highlighted according to some criterion. In an associated paper, we describe a new software tool: the OSATE Slicer, which extends the concept of slicing to architectural models of embedded, critical systems. It does this by calculating various notions of reachability that can be used to support both manual and automated analyses of system models. We then evaluate the utility of our approach based on several existing analyses and its performance based on a preexisting corpus of architectural models and find both to be satisfactory. This archive file accompanies the paper and includes models and documentation to support repeating the performance evaluation.