Towards a dependable component technology for embedded system applications

Component-based software engineering is a technique that has proven effective to increase reusability and efficiency in development of office and Web applications. Though being promising also for development of embedded and dependable systems, the true potential in this domain has not yet been realized. In this paper, we present a prototype component technology developed with safety-critical automotive applications in mind. The technology is illustrated by a case-study, which is also used as the basis for an evaluation and a discussion of the appropriateness and applicability in the considered domain. Our study provides initial positive evidence of the suitability of our technology, but also shows that it needs to be extended to be fully applicable in an industrial context.