Implications of codesign as a natural constituent of a systems engineering discipline for computer based systems

Within this paper we argue that Hardware/Software Codesign must first of all be regarded as an important but nevertheless subordinate part of a disciplined procedure of engineering computer based systems in general. Defining such a set of consequences is this contribution´s major concern. In this paper we first present the contents of a discipline of engineering of computer based systems and elaborate on the special meaning of design in general and codesign in particular within that frame. We then sketch some typical codesign problems arising when defining reusable specifications for basic services to make up a baseline component infrastructure for open systems architectures and present solutions for the special case of measurement, actuation, and control services using the case study of a production cell automation as an example. Last we comment on some lessons we think can be learned from this discourse