ANIMATION PROTOTYPING OF REAL-TIME EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Experience has shown that the most costly and time consuming problems found in computer-based systems are caused by specification errors. Ma ny researchers consider that prototyping techniques can make significa nt inroads into these problems. This paper describes a methodology cal led animation prototyping for use during the generation and evaluation of the system requirements. Specifically it is intended for use with real-time embedded systems. The paper first sets out the background to defining and analysing the requirements of embedded systems. It then shows how prototyping in general fits in with such activities. After t his the concept of animation prototyping is described Finally, a detai led description is given of the application of the technique to a prac tical networking problem.