Today, in a typical car, electromechanical components contribute roughly 30% to the total vehicle cost with Embedded Real Time Systems (ERTS) responsible for roughly 80% of major controls functions. ERTS units influence the quality of the end product, and thus customer satisfaction. Quality means conformance to requirements in terms of functionality, usability, reliability, performance and supportability. In software design terms, it means traceability, portability, interoperability, and reusability.
This paper introduces a MDA approach for building portable, interoperable, and reusable software systems. Through architectural separation of concerns, MDA addresses quality from the perspectives of the customer and software design. To illustrate the effectiveness of MDA, we present a software design of an Engine Idle Speed Control Unit.