International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 4, April-2014 518

ISSN 2229-5518

Control Models in Software Engineering

Akshay Sharma, Manushi Shah

Abstract— This research paper gives you the brief idea of the different control models used in software engineering and its types. Control
models are widely classified into centralized and event-based control models. Centralized models are classified into call-return model and
manager model whilst event-based models are classified into broadcast models and interrupt-driven models. Every model has its own
application and expertise.

Index Terms— Software Engineering, Control Model, Centralized Model, Event-based Model

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1 INTRODUCTION
Software engineering is a very important aspect of business ble to sequential systems. This familiar model is embedded
world when it comes to development of software projects. in programming languages such as C, Ada and Pascal. Con-
Software engineering is application of engineering to the trol passes from a higher-level routine in the hierarchy to
design, development and maintainence of software.Control
lower-level routine.This call-return model may be used at
models are models deployed in software engineering that
are concerned with the control flow between the sub- the module level to control functions or objects.

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systems. They are distinct from the system decomposition
model. They are classified into centralized and event-based
models.Centralized models are classified into call-return
and manager model. Event-based models are classified into
broadcast and interrupt-driven models.

2 TYPES OF CONTROL MODELS

2.1 Centralized Model
Centralized model is a formulation of centralized control in
which one subsystem has overall responsibility for control
and starts and stops other subsystems. It is a control sub-
system that takes responsibility for managing the execu-
tion of other subsystems.

2.2 Event-based Model Fig(3.1).Call Return Model

Event-based models are those in which each sub-system
can respond to externally generated events from other
subsystems or the system’s environement. It is a system The call-return model is illustrated in Figure 3.1.The main
driven by externally generated events where the timing of program calls routines 1, 2 and 3 whilst Routine 1 can call
the events is out with the control of the subsystems which Routines 1.1 or 1.2. This is a model of program dynamics.
process the event. It is not a structural model; there is no need for Routine
1.1, for example, to be a part of Routine 1.
3 TYPES OF CENTRALIZED MODELS
3.1 Call-return Model 3.2 Manager Model
In call-return model, it is a model which has top-down sub- Manager model is applicable to concurrent systems. One
routine architecture where control starts at the top of a system component controls the stopping, starting and co-
subroutine hierarchy and moves downwards. It is applica-
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 4, April-2014 519
ISSN 2229-5518
ordination of other system processes. It can be imple- tive in integrating components distributed across different
mented in sequential systems as a case system. computers on a network. The advantage of this model is
that evolution is simple. This distribution is transparent to
other components. The disadvantage is that the compo-
nents don’t know if the event will be handled.

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Fig (3.2). Manager Model

Figure 3.2 is an illustration of centralized management

Fig (4.1).Broadcast Model

In Figure 4.1, components register an interest in specific

events. When these events occur, control is transferred to
the component that can handle the event.
model for a concurrent system. It is often used in real time 4.2 Interrupt-driven Model
systems which do not have very tight constraints.The cen- Interrupt-driven model is used in real time systems where
tral controller manages the execution of a set of processes interrupts are detected by and interrupt handler and
associated with sensors and actuators.The system control- passed to some other component for processing. This
ler process decides when processes should be started or model is used in real-time systems where immediate re-
stopped depending on system state variables. The control- sponse to some event is necessary.The advantage is that it
ler usually loops continuously, polling sensors and other allows very fast responses to events to be implemented.
processes for events or state changes. For this reason, this The disadvantage is that it is complex to program an diffi-
model is called an event-loop model. cult to validate.

4 TYPES OF EVENT-BASED MODELS

4.1 Broadcast Model
It is a model in which an event is broadcast to all subsys-
tems. Any subsystem which can handle the broadcasting
event may behave as a broadcast model. These are effec-
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 5, Issue 4, April-2014 520
ISSN 2229-5518

5.3 References
[1] http://www.cs.odu.edu/~price/cs451/Lectures/05desi
gn/arch/arch_htsu2.html

[2] http://ifs.host.cs.st-
an-
drews.ac.uk/Books/SE9/Web/Architecture/ArchPatter
ns/CentralControl.html

[3] http://www.slideshare.net/ahirsiddharth/software-
engineering-ch11

[4] http://phoenix.goucher.edu/~kelliher/cs319/nov13.ht
ml

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_control_sy
stem

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Fig (4.2). Interrupt Driven Model [6] http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumbe
r=5719840&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%
2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D5719840
In Figure 4.2, there are known number of interrupt types [7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical_process_(proc
with a handler for each type. Each type of interrupt is as- ess_control_model)
sociated with the memory location where it handler’s ad-
dress is stored.The interrupt handler may start or stop the
processes in response to the event signaled by the inter-
rupt.

5 END SECTIONS
5.1 Conclusion
In an era of meeting deadlines and covering an execution
of services round the clock, these control models deploy
efficient solutions to new requirements of reaching goals
and meeting expectations of the clients towards the soft-
wares engineered.

5.2 Acknowledgments
We the authors would like to thank Prof. Sharnil Pandya
for giving his valuable time and proficiency in guiding us
making our research paper a consistent and important re-
source of information.

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