Metric-based Identification of Target Conflicts in the Development of Industrial Automation Software Libraries

automated Production Systems are highly complex, mechatronic systems whose functionality is implemented increasingly via control software, which can be changed more easily on short notice than automation hardware. Achieving and maintaining high software quality for system lifetimes of up to several decades is thus crucial for machine and plant manufacturing companies to stay globally competitive. However, the multitude of stakeholders involved in the development workflow of control software ranging from standardization of library modules up to commissioning at the customer's site, leads to different perspectives on code quality and, thus, target conflicts in the software optimization. This paper introduces a metric-based analysis approach substantiated by structural analysis of dependency graphs to systematically identify target conflicts between the quality characteristics ease of use and maintainability, which are particularly important for long-living control software. The approach is evaluated with an industrial control software library focusing on the target conflict between library developers interested in high maintainability to keep the software evolvable for years, and application engineers interested in intuitive ease of use to integrate the library's functionality into machine-specific software projects.     «

automated Production Systems are highly complex, mechatronic systems whose functionality is implemented increasingly via control software, which can be changed more easily on short notice than automation hardware. Achieving and maintaining high software quality for system lifetimes of up to several decades is thus crucial for machine and plant manufacturing companies to stay globally competitive. However, the multitude of stakeholders involved in the development workflow of control software rang...     »