LieberLieber, Austrian specialist in model-based systems development, expands into the Canadian automotive market.

Vienna (OTS) – Increasingly complex networking and digitalisation demand new approaches for the efficient development of software systems. New specifications for networked system availability and security in particular present manufacturers with new challenges in systems development. Specialising in model-based systems design, software engineering company LieberLieber (www.lieberlieber.com) has created special solution modules for the Enterprise Architect development environment from Sparx Systems (www.sparxsystems.at), which is widely-used in the automotive field. LieberLieber draws on expertise and technology from the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology in order to integrate both safety (high standards of operational reliability) and security (protection from cyber-attacks) in system design from the outset.

LieberLieber relies on AIT know-how to conquer the Canadian automotive market
AIT has developed a special model-based mutation testing tool, MoMuT, which uses system descriptions to easily and automatically generate test cases in order to ensure correct system behaviour (safety), optimal performance, and top-level security against potential external manipulation. In order to achieve these goals, AIT has developed a novel threat modelling method for the protection of cyber-physical systems based on a constantly updated and maintained threat database. This threat modelling is incorporated into the cyber security modelling offered by LieberLieber, thus substantially reducing the development costs for complex systems and increasing system quality.

Having already operated in the USA for several years, LieberLieber now plans to expand its activities into the promising Canadian automotive market.

“A key challenge for our business strategy is the constant development and convergence of the worlds of modelling and automation,” says company founder and owner Peter Lieber. “In developing technologies for the future, performance and security all depend on combining methodologies, tools and standards – and this is the goal of model-based system design. Our cooperation with scientific institutes which offer wide-ranging security expertise such as AIT is a vital factor in achieving this goal.”

“The partnership between LieberLieber and AIT demonstrates that close cooperation between technology providers and applied research can lead to new high-tech solutions for the international market, allowing newly emerging requirements to be met as they arise,” says Helmut Leopold, Head of Center for Digital Safety & Security at AIT. “We are delighted that Austria’s leading research organisation for state-of-the-art security solutions can help LieberLieber in its strategy of expanding and increasing export levels.”

The team of researchers working on LieberLieber’s collaboration with CDL (Christian Doppler Laboratory of TU Wien) presented its first case study in the form of a mobile robot. The core of development is focused on targeted data reduction that allows the analysis of real-time system behavior.

The aim of LieberLieber’s joint research on the “CDL for model-integrated intelligent production” (CDL-MINT) project is to convert live data streams generated in Industry 4.0 scenarios directly into models. Assistant Prof. Dr. Manuel Wimmer, Head of CDL-MINT: “In Industry 4.0 projects, physical systems are given a virtual representation in order to be able to communicate with other components via the Internet of Things (IoT), whereby the interactivity of the implemented components is assumed. We were able to successfully demonstrate our extended approach using the PiCar mobile robot.” The robot’s control software uses the “Systems Modeling Language” (SysML), which allows communication sequences and interactions between different components to be displayed visually over time. Using SysML, so-called sequence diagrams are created by which messages and data exchanged between interaction partners can be visualized and analyzed.

New data reduction method
This new approach is called “Sequence Pattern Mining” (SPM) and enables automatic recognition and abstraction of interaction patterns. However, this requires suitable models: planning models for the creation of complex systems and descriptive models for live analysis.

Peter Lieber, founder and owner of LieberLieber, says: “In our customer projects we see that sequence diagrams, especially in the area of Industry 4.0, are becoming increasingly complex and no longer manageable. We are therefore very proud of the new method being developed in this project that allows us to carry out analyses of live system behavior by means of targeted data reduction. This is an important requirement of the German Industry 4.0 platform for the further development of such systems.”

PiCar proves the efficiency of the new approach
For Peter Lieber, the joint development of PiCar represents an important step in the implementation of industry 4.0 scenarios with model-based development. “Even very powerful modeling platforms such as Enterprise Architect are reaching their limits in view of the large amounts of data generated during live operation. With our new SPM method, we were able to show how the mass of data can be reduced in a targeted manner. Model-based development, which is increasingly at the heart of Industry 4.0 solutions, can thus help to better manage complexity and handle data streams in an orderly manner. We will therefore continue to work closely together on such approaches so that we can quickly provide the industry with suitable tools.”

Continuing this research work, a six-axis robot controlled by the Hedgehog microcontroller will be used in the CDL-MINT project from 2018 onwards. This controller was developed by “Practical Robotics Institute Austria” (PRIA) at the TGM Vienna in the research project “RoboUML” on the basis of Enterprise Architect and LieberLieber Embedded Engineer.

After completing its first project with a Christian Doppler Laboratory (CDL) at the end of 2016, LieberLieber is now continuing this commitment. Together they seek ways to transform live data streams directly into models within the framework of industry 4.0.

After gaining valuable experience in the handling of machine languages found in widespread use in industry applications during an initial cooperation, LieberLieber is making new strides with the new “CDL for Model-Integrated Intelligent Production” (CDL-MINT). “In industry 4.0 scenarios, huge amounts of data are constantly being collected and then subsequently evaluated and implemented for the further optimization of production processes. As an industrial partner, LieberLieber has a great deal of experience in dealing with such data streams and so we are now jointly taking the step of generating models from this continuously-occurring data,” explains Prof. Manuel Wimmer from the Business Informatics Group at the Institute for Software Engineering and Interactive Systems at TU Wien, who also manages the new CD lab. Peter Lieber, founder and owner of LieberLieber: “In our customer projects, such as at Vattenfall, RWE, Bosch, BMW and VW, we see on a daily basis how projects in software and systems development are becoming increasingly complex and data-intensive. This is also a major challenge for powerful modeling platforms such as Enterprise Architect, which we now want to solve together. Model-based development is therefore increasingly at the center of industry 4.0 solutions since it helps to handle the complexity and manage the flow of data in an ordered fashion.”

CDL-MINT was established with the support of the Federal Ministry for Science, Research and Business (BMWFW) as well as the two industrial partners CertiCon and LieberLieber, and opened on May 22nd, 2017.

Data, languages and storage
As in the first CDL project, the handling of special machine languages – this time in connection with the operational data – is an important part of the development work. “Since this project is the first time that a reactive model has been generated from the live data streams, the models must understand the languages in which these data are transmitted. If we can do this, then the deployment possibilities of Enterprise Architect would expand considerably,” Wimmer explains. In this case, the models could be used to monitor the systems, to understand complex system behavior or to validate model assumptions through empirical data.

Industry 4.0 scenarios are based on the comprehensive exchange of information between all suppliers, customers and manufacturers involved in the production process. Model-based system development solves the challenge of the resulting data streams by using a central model memory. However, the relational database used by Enterprise Architect encounters its limits with increasing amounts of data. “For a while now, we have been dealing with the issue of how to achieve more efficient storage and retrieval of large volumes of model data. In this collaboration we wish to further extend our know-how and also develop other database concepts, such as NoSQL and graphical or card-based databases,” says Lieber. The question of optimized loading and buffering mechanisms for very large models is also addressed.

Advancements built on solid experience
LieberLieber has already gained extensive experience in the industry 4.0 environment through its “Embedded Engineer” tool. The resulting technologies are a great starting point for the desired model-based monitoring and data collection. “The collaboration with CDL-MINT is based on our experience and will test concepts, technologies and platforms in order to enhance our know-how in industry 4.0 projects. We are deliberately pursuing high goals in order to show everyone that model-based software and systems development is an excellent approach for the rapid implementation of industrial 4.0 projects,” concludes Lieber.

LieberLieber Software is heading a new European initiative to lower the maintenance costs of highly-available safety-critical software systems.

Following smaller precursor projects, a consortium headed by LieberLieber has now started to develop a cost-saving modeling and testing environment for safety-critical software systems as part of a EUROSTARS project. The intention is to develop a modeling environment within two years which will reduce the maintenance costs of critical systems by up to 50 percent.

In the age of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT), embedded software and systems are becoming increasingly relevant due to their propensity for constantly opening up new areas of application. Where simple mechanical or IT systems have sufficed to date, increased networking is now making embedded control systems increasingly indispensable. In view of these developments, the focus is turning to modern approaches such as model-based software and systems engineering in order to cope with rapidly-growing system complexity. Improving existing development solutions is particularly relevant, especially in the field of safety critical systems which are often vital to human life.

Optimizing safety-critical systems
Against this backdrop LieberLieber will coordinate the EUROSTARS project EMBEET (Environment for Model-Based Embedded Systems Engineering and Testing), part of the transnational Eurostar-2 call, over the next two years. Along with project partners AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology) and CNS Soft of Slovakia, LieberLieber will develop a modeling and testing environment for safety-critical software systems deployed in the automotive and aerospace industries, for example. Advanced model-based software and systems engineering should reduce the development and maintenance costs of safety-critical systems by up to 50 percent over their service life. The project will also raise system quality, for example by developing state-of-the-art tools for modeling, automating test-case generation and precise documentation.

“The majority of recalls in the automotive industry are already the result of malfunctions in safety-critical electronic systems. These errors often originate in the software and put human lives at risk. That’s why every means available must be used to avoid them. We want our project to make an important contribution toward improving the development of safety-critical systems which protect lives and save billions,” elaborates Peter Lieber, founder and owner of LieberLieber Software, on the aim of the project.

“Our modern networked systems are making society increasingly dependent and vulnerable, creating the need for new methods and tools to develop these digital systems. AIT plays a leading international role in this area of research and has established key technology expertise in Austria. This allows us to work with partners to build highly reliable IoT components for the Industry 4.0 environment and tomorrow’s autonomous vehicles,” explains Helmut Leopold, Head of the Center for Digital Safety & Security at AIT.

EMBEET: Simplifying the transition to modeling
All three partners in the EMBEET consortium have excellent knowledge and experience in model-based software and systems engineering, and have already worked together on various projects. “The joint projects with LieberLieber are certainly ambitious as they always extract the greatest possible potential offered by model-based development. This also increases our expertise in this promising area, and we are already looking forward to the interesting tasks and challenges that will come with EMBEET,” says Thomas Berndorfer, Managing Director of Slovak company CNS Soft.

The partners’ stated goal is to win over those developers who currently work with traditional software development methods, convincing them of the benefits of the new approach. This will primarily be achieved by incorporating the latest technologies offered by traditional development environments into the new, integrated and model-based development environment (IMDE). This simultaneously integrates development, test runs and debugging at the model level. “We want to keep entry barriers to the new system as low as possible in order to convince as many developers as possible of the advantages of the method. We are effectively building a stable bridge for the transition to model-based development by adopting the advantages of conventional systems, and integrating and merging them with the opportunities offered by modeling,” concludes Lieber.