A Reference Technology Platform (RTP), as it is understood here, is a ‘tool-box’ for the development, analysis, and test of embedded systems in various application domains. It contains processes, methods, meta-models, interoperability standards and interoperable software tools, which describe and support the complete development process for critical embedded systems. These components can be combined to form domain- and application-specific development processes supported by software tools according to specific methods and adhering to specific standards, as needed for the particular domain and the particular application.

The RTP for Critical Systems Engineering has been created in a long standing strategic public-private partnership on a national and European level, combining more than 25 global companies in the domains Aerospace, Automotive and Railway Systems, as well as various Tool Venders and Research Organizations, with an effort of more than 100 Mio Euro.

The RTP will be used in two ways in the Interdisciplinary Research Center CSE: First, it will serve as a ‘tool box’ for developments in the R&D projects, both, in the three projects described in this proposal as well as in the projects conceived by the Think Tank. Second, relevant results of these projects – new or extended methods, new (prototype) tools, and even new or modified processes – will be incorporated into the RTP, thus making them directly accessible for successor projects and for technology transfer to industry. In this way, the RTP also serves as a “showcase”, where newly developed tools and methods can be presented as a part of a complete tool chain, thus making an assessment of the usefulness of these new tools extremely easy.

Thus, the RTP will facilitate high-level R&D projects, being a common, industry approved baseline easily accessible to the partners in the Research Center CSE. We will also make the ‘showcase’ feature of the RTP available to commercial tool vendors, especially SMEs, who develop new tools or new features of tools adhering to the interoperability standard.