Högskolan i Skövde

This paper describes an approach for assessment in a large software engineering project course. We propose an approach for continuously collecting information from a source code repository and collaboration tool, and using this information for assessing student contributions and also for assessing the course as a whole from the teacher's standpoint. We present how we display metrics for how the students perform in relation to some of the requirements of the course. We argue that continuous summative assessment feedback to the students on how they are performing in the project is a suitable strategy for ensuring active participation from the students for the duration of the project course. 

Open Source Software (OSS) is software which can be freely used, modified and redistributed, generally produced in a collaborative fashion by global communities of firms and individuals. In this paper we consider OSS ecosystems using an analytical device which we refer to as the OSS Stakeholder triangle. We believe that the OSS Stakeholder triangle constitues a useful means for analysing many aspects of Open Source ecosystems, including interaction between stakeholder roles and the overall health of an ecosystem.

Model driven development has several advantages over traditional development, including simplified maintenance. We demonstrate an architecture which, through model driven engineering, allows heterogeneous distributed development of components in a mechatronics application. Key to the approach is an architecture which allows automated and dynamic component integration, together with model sharing through the transformation of XMI files.

XMI is a standardized format for model interchange between tools. However, XMI-based interchange currently has one great disadvantage: an XMI file exported from one tool is unlikely to import correctly into a different tool. This makes XMI unusable for moving models around in a heterogeneous development environment, leading to increased maintenance problems. We suggest using specialized XSLT transformations to bridge between the XMI dialects of tools, and report on an industrial case study in which the technique has been successfully applied.

This paper presents the design and architecture of a mid-range driving simulator developed at the University of Skövde. The aim is to use the simulator as a platform for studies of serious games. The usage of video game technology and software has been a central design principle. The core of the simulator is a complete car surrounded by seven screens. Each screen is handled by a standard PC, typically used for computer games, and the projection on the screens is handled by budget LCD-projectors. The use of consumer electronics, standard game technology and limited motion feedback makes this simulator relatively inexpensive. In addition, the architecture is scalable and allows for using commercial video games in the simulator. Observations from a set of experiments conducted in the simulator are presented in this paper. In these experiments driving school students were instructed to freely explore a driving game specifically designed for the simulator platform. The result shows that the level of realism is sufficient and that the entertainment value was considered to be high. This opens the possibilities to employ and use driving simulators for a wider set of applications. Our current research focuses on its use with serious games for traffic education.

Smoke simulation is a key feature of serious gaming applications for fire-fighting professionals. A perfect visual appearance is not of paramount importance, the behavior of the smoke must however closely resemble its natural counterpart for successful adoption of the application. We therefore suggest a hybrid grid/particle based architecture for smoke simulation that uses a cheap multi-sampling technique for controlling smoke behavior. This approach is simple enough for it to be implemented in current generation game engines, and uses techniques that are very suitable for GPU implementation, thus enabling the use of hardware acceleration for the smoke simulation.

Many companies are using model-based techniques to offer a competitive advantage in an increasingly globalised systems development industry. Central to model-based development is the concept of models as the basis from which systems are generated, tested and maintained. The availability of high-quality tools, and the ability to adopt and adapt them to the company practice, are important qualities. Model interchange between tools becomes a major issue. Without it, there is significantly reduced flexibility, and a danger of tool lock-in. We explore the use of a standardised interchange format (XMI) for increasing flexibility in a company environment. We report on a case study in which a systems development company has explored the possibility of complementing

their current proprietary tools with open source products for supporting their model-based development activities. We found that problems still exist with interchange, and that the technology needs to mature before industrial- strength model interchange becomes a reality.

Many companies are using model-based techniques to offer a competitive advantage in an increasingly globalised systems development industry. Central to model-based development is the concept of models as the basis from which systems are generated, tested and maintained. The availability of high-quality tools, and the ability to adopt and adapt them to the company practice, are important qualities. Model interchange between tools becomes a major issue. Without it, there is significantly reduced flexibility, and a danger of tool lock-in. We explore the use of a standardised interchange format (XMI) for increasing flexibility in a company environment. We report on a case study in which a systems development company has explored the possibility of complementing

their current proprietary tools with open source products for supporting their model-based development activities. We found that problems still exist with interchange, and that the technology needs to mature before industrial- strength model interchange becomes a reality.

The development and maintenance of UML models is an inherently distributed activity, where distribution may be geographical, temporal or both. It is therefore increasingly important to be able to interchange model information between tools – whether in a tool chain, for legacy reasons or because of the natural heterogeneity resulting from distributed development contexts. In this study we consider the current utility of XMI interchange for supporting OSS tool adoption to complement other tools in an embedded systems development context. We find that the current state of play is disappointing, and speculate that the problem lies both with the open standards and the way in which they are being supported and interpreted. There is a challenge here for the OSS community to take a lead as tool vendors gear up for XMI 2.0.