Formal foundations for MARTE-SystemC interoperability

Model Driven Architecture (MDA) and Electronic System Level (ESL) design are key approaches for succeeding in the specification and design of current embedded systems, which are increasingly complex and heterogeneous. MARTE is the most advanced UML profile for abstract specification of real-time embedded systems in the MDA context, while SystemC is the language most widely adopted by the ESL design community. This paper provides formal foundations for a consistent and synergistic link between MARTE and SystemC. These foundations are based on the ForSyDe formalism, used to reflect the abstract execution semantics of both the MARTE model and its corresponding SystemC executable specification. The concepts introduced are shown through the specification of an essential part of a video decoder.