Experimental Evaluation of the UML Profile for Schedulability, Performance, and Time

We present a performance engineering methodology based upon the construction and solution of performance models generated mechanically from UML sequence diagrams, annotated using the UML Profile for Schedulability, Performance and Time (SPT). The target platform for the performance analysis is the Labelled Transition System Analyser (LTSA) tool which supports model solution via discrete-event simulation. Simultaneously, LTSA allows functional properties of a system to be explored formally, and we show how this can be used to detect functional anomalies, such as unnecessary sequentialisation and deadlock, prior to analysing the performance aspects of a system. The approach is evaluated with reference to a case study – a simple robot-based manufacturing system. The main objective is to explore the ways in which UML, the SPT profile and the LTSA tool can be used to design systems that satisfy specified behavioural and performance properties, through successive refinement.