Class diagrams helps to separate system components and define interfaces between them. These
techniques are good enough to capture usage scenarios and identify likely time problems.
We’ve been trying to answer the question during our practice using UML to design the elevator
system: “Is UML a suitable modeling language for the development of real-time systems?” We
found that based on the features mentioned in last paragraph, UML is applicable but not yet
enough. There are some main challenges in the design of real-time embedded system with UML,
as follows:
· The definition of specific hardware elements and their characteristics;
· Specifying the time constraints at the object, task and hardware levels.
· Modeling the network.
In the following sections, we will attempt to figure out how to use UML for a better description
for the elevator system. Some practical suggestions that might be a useful addition to the standard
UML are given out.