Could UML and Contract tackle heterogeneity?

Embedded systems integrate more and more heterogeneous subsystems. This situation leads to consider on the one hand heterogeneity owing to different formalisms and on the other hand heterogeneity created by platforms in charge of realizing the system. To deal with formalism heterogeneity some modeling frameworks handle different formalisms or project them onto a pivot. Nevertheless these solutions are often not sufficient. This paper presents ongoing works on a development process using Unified Modeling Language (UML) enhanced by a contract approach borrowed from the Interface Automata modeling. The objectives are twofold: (a) provide coherent views of a component along its refinements, (b) specify their interactions.