Software product line engineering has proven to empower organizations to develop a diversity of similar software-intensive systems (applications) at lower cost, in shorter time, and with higher quality when compared with the development of single systems. Over the last decade the software product line engineering research community has grown significantly. It has produced impressive research results both in terms of quality as well as quantity. We identified over 600 relevant research and experience papers published within the last seven years in established conferences and journals. We briefly summarize the major research achievements of these past seven years. We structure this research summary along a standardized software product line framework. Further, we outline current and future research challenges anticipated from major trends in software engineering and technology.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/2593882.2593888

Software product line engineering and variability management: achievements and challenges

Engineering changes are inevitable and might propagate within and across multiple boundaries. Their management has increasingly become relevant within the interdisciplinary field of systems engineering. A few literature categorization frameworks arising from literature reviews have been proposed to structure the research field of engineering change management. However, the literature reviews are limited in scope, and the existing categorization frameworks do not provide sufficient coverage of the research field in its broader context. This paper addresses both shortcomings. First, a new, holistic and process-oriented literature categorization framework is proposed. Second, this proposed framework is used to categorize a comprehensive list of 427 publications in engineering change management. This categorization highlights not only research areas which have gained much attention, but also those where little research has been done. Third, a citation analysis is conducted which reveals the links between the publications and indicates the most cited publications. The result of this paper will help researchers and managers to (1) navigate through the state of the art in engineering change management, (2) position their work in the overall picture of engineering change management, (3) focus on the identified research gaps and weak points, and (4) search for further research and improvement opportunities. ©2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 16

A Holistic Categorization Framework for Literature on Engineering Change Management

The controller area network with flexible data rate (CAN-FD) is attracting attention as the next generation of in-vehicle network technology. However, security issues have not been completely taken into account when designing CAN-FD, although every bit of information transmitted could be critical to driver safety. If we fail to solve the security vulnerabilities of CAN-FD, we cannot expect Vehicle-Information and Communications Technology (Vehicle-ICT) convergence to continue to develop. Fortunately, secure in-vehicle CAN-FD communication environments can be constructed using the larger data payload of CAN-FD. In this paper, we propose a security architecture for in-vehicle CAN-FD as a countermeasure (designed in accordance with CAN-FD specifications). We considered the characteristics of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26262 Automotive Safety Integrity Level and the in-vehicle subnetwork to design a practical security architecture. We also evaluated the feasibility of the proposed security architecture using three kinds of microcontroller unit and the CANoe software. Our evaluation findings may be used as an indicator of the performance level of electronic control units for manufacturing next-generation vehicles.

A Practical Security Architecture for In-Vehicle CAN-FD

Software engineering in the automotive domain faces outstanding challenges in terms of quality, cost, and functional complexity. To ensure process and product excellence, Bosch Gasoline Systems (GS) introduced a process improvement program based on Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and adopted the product line approach (PLA). Business strategies for software products, software sharing with customers, and common solutions for diesel and gasoline engine control software are inputs for the product line architecture. The steps towards the PLA started with an evaluation project followed by an evolutionary rollout. The lack of suitable mechanisms and tools for some crucial nonfunctional requirements is a major drawback for introducing the PLA. Nevertheless, GS considers it the only systematic approach to dealing with current and future challenges.

Introducing PLA at Bosch Gasoline systems: Experiences and practices

Scoping can be defined as the process of deciding in which parts of an organization's products, features and domains systematic reuse is economically useful. It generally is the first phase in product line engineering. For a decade now scoping has been recognized as a discipline of it's own in product line engineering. So it's time to look at what has been done in scoping in the last years and what is still to be done. In this survey, we identify and characterize existing scoping approaches with the main goal to derive open areas and research questions for further research in scoping. We analyze and compare existing approaches and derive open and partially addressed research questions that can be tackled by researchers in product line engineering in the next years.

A decade of scoping: a survey

Architecting automotive product lines: Industrial practice

This paper presents an in-depth view of how architects work with maintaining product line architectures in the automotive industry. The study has been performed at two internationally well-known companies, one car manufacture and one commercial vehicle manufacture. The results are based on 12 interviews with architects performed at the two companies. The study shows what effect differences such as a strong line organization or a strong project organization has on the architecting process. It also shows what consequence technical choices and business strategy have on the architecting process. Despite the differences the results are surprisingly similar with respect to the process of managing architectural changes as well as the information the architects maintain and update, especially in the light that the companies have had no direct cooperation.

/pdf/architecting-automotive-product-lines-industrial-practice-hml88cyyxm.pdf

Architecting automotive product lines: industrial practice

Embedded automotive architectures and software need to support a large number of vehicle product lines over many years of production. This leads to a complexity and many uncertain factors when developing such systems and a need for support in the design process. An evaluation method using real options provides the opportunity to analyze the cost of designing for flexibility to cope with a future growth of a product line, based on the estimated value of the future functionality. In this paper real options is applied on a case within the automotive industry. To improve the usability an evaluation process is defined to aid engineers. This process provides a way of valuing system designs and enables the engineer to think about the future in a systematic manor. The value of a flexible design can thereby be quantified and the proposed process shows how it can be accepted by practitioners.

Evaluating Flexibility in Embedded Automotive Product Lines Using Real Options

Software intensive systems are an increasing part of new products, which make the business impact significant. This is especially true for the automotive industry where a very large part of new innovations are realized through the use of software. The architecture of the software intensive system will enable value creation when working properly or, in the worst case, prevent value creation. Lean thinking is about focusing on the increase of customer value and on the people who add value. This thesis investigates how system architecting is performed in industry and how it can be improved by the use of Lean thinking. The architecting process does not create immediate value to the end customer, but rather create the architecture on which value in terms of product features and functionality can be developed. A Lean tool used to improve the value creation within a process is Value Stream Mapping (VSM). We present a method based on VSM which is adapted to enable analysis of the architecting process in order to identify improvements. A study of architecting at two companies shows what effect differences such as a strong line organization or a strong project organization has on the architecting process. It also shows what consequence technical choices and business strategy have on the architecting process. In order to improve the understanding of how architecting is performed a study including architects at six different internationally well-known companies have been interviewed. The study presents the practices that are found most successful. The context of the different companies as well as the architecting practices are compared and analyzed. The early design decisions made when developing software-intensive systems are crucial to the outcome of development projects. In order to improve the decision making process a method was developed based on Real Options. The method improves the customer focus of critical design decision by taking the value of flexibility into account. This thesis provides a toolbox of knowledge on how Lean thinking can be applied to system architecting and also presents how architecting is performed in industry today.

Evaluation of design options in embedded automotive product lines

The impact of embedded systems within the automotive industry has grown very rapidly and is today influencing most part of the product development process. This technological change puts high demands on the development process in order for the company to stay competitive. The architecting process is performed during the early phases of the development process when uncertainty is very high. The architecting process will not create immediate value to the end customer, but rather create the architecture on which value in terms of product features can be developed. The architecture will enable value creation when working properly or, in the worst case, prevent value creation. Lean is a product development philosophy that aims at creating value for the end customer. A Lean tool used to improve the value creation within a process is Value Stream Mapping (VSM). VSM has in this work been adapted and evaluated to analyze and identify improvements of the architecting process within embedded systems development. In this paper we present practical experiences from using this adapted VSM. The evaluation was conducted through interviews at two automotive manufacturers. VSM is shown to be a valuable tool to identify waste and thereby improve the architecting process.

/pdf/improving-the-system-architecting-process-through-the-use-of-27rswcv2yl.pdf

Håkan Gustavsson

Papers

Architecting automotive product lines: Industrial practice

Architecting automotive product lines: industrial practice

Evaluating Flexibility in Embedded Automotive Product Lines Using Real Options

Evaluation of design options in embedded automotive product lines

Improving the system architecting process through the use of Lean tools