An approach to architectural analysis of product lines

Addresses the issue of how to perform architectural analysis on an existing software product-line architecture. The contribution of the paper is to identify and demonstrate a repeatable product-line architecture analysis process. The approach defines a “good” product-line architecture in terms of those quality attributes required by the particular product line under development. It then analyzes the architecture against these criteria by both manual and tool-supported methods. The phased approach described in this paper provides a structured analysis of an existing product-line architecture using (1) formal specification of the high-level architecture, (2) manual analysis of scenarios to exercise the architecture´s support for required variabilities, and (3) model checking of critical behaviors at the architectural level that are required for all systems in the product line. Results of an application to a software product line of spaceborne telescopes are used to explain and evaluate the approach