UML deployment diagram with multi core architecture

Question

I am a newbie in the UML world, that is why, it could be that I would like to do, is normally not been done with UML. Alternative suggestion are welcome as well.

In my project I have a multi libraries, were each one run on a different Core. I would like to create a UML diagram, where each library is placed on its designated core.

The aim is to use this diagram, in order to see how the software is deployed on the real multi-core hardware.

In my example, I have a motherboard with 2 ARM Processors, where each one of it have 3 Cores.

Until now I was unable to find detailed UML diagram, which explain which software runs on which cores. It was always abstract.

Could someone provide me an example how to build such an UML diagram?

Answer 1

In deployment diagrams, deployment targets are nodes that can either be devices, that represent physical machine components, or execution environments that represent software environments. Both kind of nodes are typically represented by boxes that can be nested.

If you have control on the cores and really deploy software on the cores, you'd represent each core as a «device», you'd show the library as an «artefact» in the box representing the core.

However, this seems to me a very simplified view, as probably, the two cores share memory, and the library will at some point reside in memory. So if you really work at this low level of detail, you'd add a 3rd device to represent the shared memory, and show that both cores access the shared memory. If several libraries, you'd show several artefacts.

But maybe a software environment (OS) manages the real cores and distributes the execution of the code between the cores without you intervening. In this case, you'd use an execution environment and put the two libraries in the execution environment.

Answer 2

I would suggest to indicate the corresponding specification in the name of the device.