Visualization of Feature Survival in Platform-Based Embedded Systems Development for Improved Understanding of Scope Dynamics

This paper presents a method for visualizing the scoping process in platform-based development of embedded systems. The proposed visualization shows the decision process of including or excluding features that are candidates for the next release. The presented visualization charts are evaluated in a large-size embedded system platform project. The evaluation indicates that the visualization of feature survival and scope dynamics can improve the understanding of the decision process of platform scoping in real industrial projects. Future work includes dealing with the relations between features and system requirements, improving user interaction as well as visualizing statistical measures of efficiency of the scoping process.