Model Transformation Based on Meta Templates Hongming Liu, Lizhang Qin, Xiaoping Jia, and Adam Steele School of Computer Science, Telecommunication and Information Systems DePaul University Chicago, Illinois, USA email: {jordan, lqin, xjia, and asteele}@cs.depaul.edu ABSTRACT Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is a model-centric software engineering approach which aims at improving the quality and life span of software artifacts by focusing on the design models instead of code. Model transformation is a key aspect of MDE system. In this paper, we introduce a model transformation framework based on Hierarchical Relational Metamodel (HRM). Its design motivation and details are discussed and related work is presented for comparison. KEYWORDS Model Transformation, Model Driven Engineering, Modeling, Metamodeling 1 Introduction Model Driven Engineering (MDE) tackles the elusive problem of system development by promoting the usage of models as the primary artifact to be constructed and maintained [1]. MDE shifts software devel- opment from a code-centric activity to a model centric activity. Accomplishing this shift entails developing support for modeling concepts at different levels of abstraction and transforming abstract models to more concrete descriptions of software. By doing this, MDE reduces complexity in software development through modularization and abstraction. Because of MDEs potential to dramatically change the way we develop applications, researchers and companies are already working to deliver supporting technologies [2, 3]. How- ever, there is no universally accepted definition of the requirements for an MDE infrastructure and many requirements for MDE support are unclear or even unspecified. To overcome this lack of standardization, we argue that the main issues MDE infrastructure is facing is well-defined transformations that support rigorous model evolution, refinement, and code generation. In this paper, we provide an alternate solution, which is a new model-driven framework including a new formal modeling notation, a set of supporting tools aiming at the realization of the benefits of true model-driven engineering. We introduce a model transformation framework based on Hierarchical Relational Metamodel(HRM). The rest of the paper is organized like this. Section 2 provide detailed background information about model driven engineering and model transformation. Section 3 present the design of our approach. Then section 4 covers the details of the design of our meta model and section 6 focus on Model transformation process. Section 5 discusses related research work and compare them with our approach. Finally, section 6 concludes this paper. 2 Background 2.1 Model Driven Engineering Model-driven engineering aims for integration of software engineering phases such that the development of a system from the first abstract design to the finished product is a continuum with no gaps between. Model-driven engineering automates transformations between different models by using formal models of the software system and well-defined mappings (both horizontal and vertical) between different models [3]. Model-driven engineering can be exploited in all phases of software design process. Even very rough models can be used as an interface between customers and designers during requirements analysis. During initial design and refinement phases, formal models can be used to simulate, analyses or even automatically verify software designs. The ultimate goal of MDE is rapid development of robust and reliable software using reusable components and designs and especially automatic generation of lower level models and complete implementation. Model-driven engineering tries also to achieve platform independent software solutions by using different levels and views of models and modeling languages [4].