DEPS: a model- and property-based language for system synthesis problems

DEPS (design problem specification) is a new modeling language designed to pose and solve system design problems. DEPS addresses problems of sizing, configuration, resource allocation and of architecture generation for systems. Unlike system modeling languages, which are dedicated to the representation of a defined system for evaluation or analysis, we propose a problem modeling language for representing the design problem with a view to its automatic resolution. Compared with other declarative problem modeling languages, DEPS is a declarative structured and property-based language that combines structural modeling features specific to object-oriented languages with problem specification features from constraint programming. The mathematical nature of the problems is described by formal properties encapsulated in models organized according to the architecture of the studied system. The main features of the language are presented in details and are illustrated with examples in different domains. An integrated modeling and solving environment called DEPS Studio allows the designer to express its models in DEPS, to compile the models and to compute automatically the solutions. The validation of the approach is done through two case studies. Finally, we will conclude with the studies and developments in progress which will be integrated into the next version of DEPS Studio.

Automated summary

DEPS is a new modeling language designed to pose and solve system design problems. It is a declarative structured and property-based language that combines structural modeling features specific to object-oriented languages with problem specification features from constraint programming. DEPS Studio is an integrated modeling and solving environment that allows designers to automatically compute solutions.