Interplay between requirements, software architecture, and hardware constraints in the development of a home control user interface

We have developed a new graphical user interface for a home control device for a large industrial customer. In this industrial case study, we first present our approaches to requirements engineering and to software architecture; we also describe the given hardware platform. Then we make two contributions. Our first contribution is to provide a specific example of a real-world project in which a Twin Peaks-compliant approach to software development has been used, and to describe and discuss three examples of interplay between requirements and software architecture decisions. Our second contribution is to propose the hardware platform as a third Twin Peaks element that must be given attention in projects such as the one described in this paper. Specifically, we discuss how the presence of severe hardware constraints exacerbates making trade-offs between requirements and architecture.