Object-oriented development on X-ray spectrometer software

Embedded computer systems, incorporated in various types of products and systems, are common in a wide range of everyday commodities as well as industrial and scientific equipment. In connection with the increasing use of object-oriented methodologies in the development of real-time computer systems, better means are provided for reusable embedded software architectures and components, as well. Yet, there is still no large-scale application and routine utilisation of commercial object-oriented technology in the development of hard real-time embedded software.

Commercial object-oriented technology usually has to be tailored to the specific characteristics and needs of individual embedded computer system domains. This paper is concerned with the object-oriented development process of scientific on-board X-ray spectrometer control software. It discusses the experiences gained through the utilisation of object-oriented real-time methods and tools based on OMT (Object Modelling Technique), MSC (Message Sequence Charts) and formal SDL (Specification and Description Language) notations.