System design for flexibility

With the term flexibility, we introduce a new design dimension of an embedded system that quantitatively characterizes its feasibility in implementing not only one, but possibly several alternative behaviors. This is important when designing systems that may adapt their behavior during operation, e.g., due to new environmental conditions, or when dimensioning a platform-based system that must implement a set of different behaviors. A hierarchical graph model is introduced that allows us to model flexibility and cost of a system formally. Based on this model, an efficient exploration algorithm to find the optimal flexibility/cost-tradeoff-curve of a system using the example of the design of a family of set-top boxes is proposed